LIBRARY 

^University  of  California* 

IRVINE 


% 


THE   REBIRTH   OF  RUSSIA 


BY  THE  SAME  AUTHOR 

THE   WAR   AFTER  THE 
WAR 

With  Daniel  Frohman 
CHARLES  FROHMAN, 
MANAGER  AND  MAN 


THE    BODLEY   HEAD 


A.  E.  KERENSKY 


THE  REBIRTH 
OF  RUSSIA     BY 

ISAAC  F.  MARCOSSON 


LONDON  :  JOHN  LANE,  THE  BODLEY  HEAD 
NEW  YORK:  JOHN  LANE  COMPANY 
TORONTO  :  S.  B.  GUNDY.  MCMXVII 


PRINTED   BY 

SPOTTISWOODE,   BALLANTYNE  AND  CO.   LTD. 
LONDON,  COLCHESTER  AND  ETON 


TO 

HUGH    WALPOLE 

IN    GRATEFUL    REMEMBRANCE 

OF    PETROGRAD    DAYS 


Contents 


PAGE 


I.  THE  LONG  NIGHT   .        .        .        .  17 

II.  THE  GREAT  AWAKENING       .        .  34 

III.  THE  DAY  OF  DECISION  ...  49 

IV.  THE  BIRTH  OF  A  NATION       .       .  65 
V.  THE  TWILIGHT  OF  THE  GODS        .  81 

VI.  THE  DAWN  OF  FREEDOM        .        .  86 

VII.  PETROGRAD  IN  TRANSITION    .        .  104 

VIII.  REACTION  AND  RECONSTRUCTION  .  135 

IX.  THE  REVOLUTION  MAKERS  .  .  145 

X.  THE  MAN  KERENSKY  .  .  .173 

XI.  THE  NEW  RUSSIA    ....  190 


List  of  Illustrations 


A.  E.  KERENSKY Frontispiece 

TO   FACE   PAGE 

GREGORY  RASPUTIN 22 

M.  PROTOPOPOFF 32 

M.  B.  RODZIANKO 52 

P.   N.   MlLYUKOFF 58 

CHARRED  FRAGMENT  OF  A  POLICE  RECORD    .       .      62 

FUNERAL    OF     VICTIMS    OF     THE     REVOLUTION, 

APRIL  5,  1917 70 

Funeral  procession  passing  down  the  Nevsky  Prospect. 

A.  E.  GUTCHKOFF 84 

THE  EX-CZAR,  THE  EX-CZARINA  AND  THEIR  FAMILY        86 

M.  E.  TERESHTCHENKO 90 

FUNERAL  OF  THE  VICTIMS  OF  THE  REVOLUTION, 

APRIL  5,  1917 1 10 

Placing  the  coffins  in  the  grave. 

FUNERAL  OF  THE  VICTIMS  OF  THE  REVOLUTION    .  124 

Carrying  the  coffins  to  the  burial  place. 

PRINCE  GEORGE  E.  LVOFF 148 

A.   E.   KONOVALOFF  .          .          .          .  l66 


Foreword 

THIS  little  book  has  no  serious  historic 
pretensions.      It   is  frankly  journal- 
istic— the  record  of  momentous  events 
chronicled  hot  on  the  heel  of  happening.     It 
was  my  good  fortune  to  be  among  the  first 
to  reach  Petrograd  after  the  Great  Upheaval. 
I  found  the  capital  delirious  with  freedom — 
the  people  still  blinking  in  the  light  of  the 
sudden  deliverance.    I  saw  the  fruits  and  the 
follies  of  the  new  liberty. 

Whatever  social  and  economic  excesses 
impeded  the  era  of  reconstruction — and  no 
one  can  deny  that  the  path  of  the  infant 
Republic  is  beset  with  peril — the  larger  fact 
obtains  that  the  Russian  Revolution  of  1917 
set  up  a  distinct  mile-post  in  all  human 
progress.  If  the  war  which  has  reddened 
Europe  has  achieved  no  other  result,  it 
would  have  been  worth  its  dreadful  cost  in 
blood  and  treasure.  The  liberation  of  the 
Slav  has  changed  the  trend  of  universal 
thought,  and  will  affect  and  underlie  the 
coming  centuries.  It  wrote  on  the  walls  of 
the  world  the  solemn  warning  that  Autocracy's 
day  was  done. 

I.  F.  M. 

London:  May  1917. 

'3 


THE   REBIRTH   OF   RUSSIA 


CHAPTER  I 

The  Long  Night 


ONE     morning    in    March    1917     the 
world  read  at  its  breakfast  table  that 
Russia  was    in    revolution,  that  the 
Czar    had    abdicated,    and    that   democracy 
had  arisen  out   of   the   ruins  of   an   ancient 
imperialism.     Nothing  that    had   happened 
since  Prussianism  ran  amuck  was  so  fraught 
with    significance     for     all     civilization.     It 
affected  the  whole  conduct  of  the  war,  and  it 
will  underlie  the  coming  centuries. 

Although  it  broke  with  startling  sudden- 
ness, like  a  bolt  of  light  out  of  the  troubled 
sky,  it  was  not  a  surprise.  It  was  day- 
break after  the  black  night  that  had  long 
brooded  over  Russia.  One  of  the  most  demo- 
cratic of  peoples  had  come  into  their  own. 

In  the  average  Anglo-Saxon  mind,  every 
Russian  is  a  revolutionist  at  heart.  Thanks 
to  the  playwright  and  the  novelist,  he  is 
pictured  as  a  fierce  and  bearded  Nihilist, 

foiled  in  a  bomb-plot  and  hurried  off  to  Siberia 

17  B 


i8        THE   REBIRTH   OF  RUSSIA 

to  become  a  link  in  an  endless  chain  of  living 
tragedy.  But  there  was  more  truth  than 
imagination  in  this  picture  because  the  story 
of  modern  Russia  has  been  a  continuous 
narrative  of  punitive  protest  studded  with 
failure  and  disappointment.  The  Slav  soul 
was  an  unuttered  aspiration  that  yearned  for 
fulfilment. 

Whatever  causes  contributed  to  the  Revolu- 
tion— and  they  pile  up  an  indictment  against 
misgovernment  without  parallel — it  repre- 
sents the  curious  paradox  of  being  both 
premeditated  and  accidental.  It  was  pre- 
meditated in  the  fact  that  since  the  collapse 
of  the  Czar's  promise  of  a  real  Constitution 
in  1905  the  unrest  had  mounted  steadily  : 
accidental  because  the  brazen  attempt  to 
madden  the  people  into  unsuccessful  revolt 
that  they  might  be  crushed  for  ever  gave 
the  unexpected  opportunity  to  rise  and  be 
free. 

The  definite  and  organized  assault  on  the 
established  order  in  1905,  brought  about  by 
the  extreme  reactionary  policy  of  Pleve 
and  the  stupidities  and  the  shortcomings 
revealed  in  the  war  against  Japan,  failed  in  its 
real  purpose.  The  Constitution,  wrested  from 
the  unwilling  powers  that  were,  proved  to  be  a 


THE  LONG  NIGHT  19 


hollow  mockery  :  the  Duma,  held  out  as  a 
conciliatory  bait  in  response  to  a  nation-wide 
demand  for  popular  government,  never  got 
beyond  a  debating  society.  Besides,  the 
country  was  at  peace  and  the  professional 
army  remained  loyal  to  its  masters. 

But  the  accidental  outburst  of  1917  suc- 
ceeded because  the  Empire  was  at  war  and 
the  nation  was  armed.  The  unprofessional 
army — that  horde  in  grey  that  reaction  had 
called  to  the  colours — would  not  turn  upon 
its  kind.  When  this  happened  the  millennium 
was  at  hand.  It  explains  the  whole  transi- 
tion from  dim  despair  to  realized  ideal. 
Thus  War,  the  Supreme  Revealer,  brought 
compensation  for  the  ravage  that  it  had 
wrought. 

The  prelude  to  the  awakening  .  was  as 
sinister  as  the  shadow  that  had  hovered  so 
tenaciously  over  Russia.  It  was  streaked 
with  intrigue,  reeked  with  plot.  Borgia  would 
have  blushed  at  it. 

The  Revolution  was  achieved  with  a  swift- 
ness that  startled.  The  wildest  dream  of 
Russian  Liberation  only  comprehended  a  con- 
stitutional monarchy.  Instead,  the  nation 
was  rid  of  its  ruler  almost  before  the  populace 
knew  it,  and  they  got  a  republic  into  the 


20       THE   REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 

bargain.  There  is  an  element  of  grim  humour 
in  the  surprise  party  staged  by  the  Govern- 
ment which  turned  an  intended  farce  into 
a  stupendous  drama  of  deliverance.  It  is 
without  precedent  in  all  history. 

When  the  war  broke,  the  country  was  knit 
for  the  moment  by  common  kinship  in  which 
all  internal  grievance  and  dissension  were 
momentarily  forgotten.  The  bureaucrats  at 
once  took  fright.  In  this  unity  they  saw  the 
weapon  that  would  eventually  strike  at  the 
system  by  which  they  thrived.  Nothing 
mattered  but  their  own  selfish  ends,  so  now 
began  the  reign  of  graft  and  treachery  that 
found  its  first  expression  in  the  shameful 
throttling  of  military  effort,  which  made  the 
campaigns  in  the  field  a  series  of  costly 
failures.  But  the  blood  shed  so  wantonly 
rose  up  in  time  to  confute  and  to  destroy. 

The  Court  and  the  reactionaries  were 
frankly  and  almost  openly  pro-German.  How 
was  this  possible  in  a  country  pledged  to  the 
Allied  Cause  and  with  immense  armies  in 
action  against  the  Central  Powers  ?  You 
did  not  have  to  search  long  for  the  answer. 
The  Empress  who  dominated  the  royal  circle 
was  Teutonic  to  the  core  ;  the  structure  of 
the  bureaucracy  owed  its  existence  to  the 


THE  LONG  NIGHT  21 

precise  prototype  of  Prussianism.  In  other 
words,  the  evil  forces  had  to  stand  or  fall 
together.  What  was  a  little  thing  like 
national  honour  between  despots  ? 

A  separate  peace  with  Germany  was  the 
end  desired.  It  could  be  achieved  in  two 
ways.  One  might  be  dictated  by  crushing 
defeats  at  the  Front.  The  other — and  ap- 
parently it  seemed  easier — lay  through  the 
instrumentality  of  an  uprising  at  home. 
The  bureaucracy  knew  that,  if  civil  war  could 
be  stirred  up,  a  breach  of  faith  with  the 
Allies,  on  the  grounds  of  self-preservation, 
was  not  only  logical,  but  possible.  This 
nefarious  peace  would  consolidate  the  evil 
and  autocratic  German  and  Russian  systems. 
In  union  there  was  strength.  Here  then  was 
the  ghastly  goal  toward  which  the  compass 
of  conspiracy  was  set. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  rehearse  in  detail 
here  the  events  by  which  the  country  was 
debased  and  debauched  :  how  Sukhomlinoff 
while  Minister  of  War  sold  the  secrets 
that  brought  on  the  Galician  reverses :  how 
Sturmer,  an  avowed  German,  raised  to  the 
Premiership,  became  paid  custodian  of  the 
Kaiser's  interests  and  served  them  well :  how, 
when  outraged  public  opinion,  born  of  shame- 


22       THE   REBIRTH   OF  RUSSIA 

ful  exposure  of  their  abuse  of  office,  forced 
the  arrest  of  one  and  the  retirement  of  the 
other,  they  were  succeeded  by  proved  traitors, 
chief  of  whom  was  the  unspeakable  Protopo- 
poff — Arch-Protagonist  of  Liberty,  who,  as 
Minister  of  the  Interior,  had  the  most  power- 
ful post  in  the  Government. 

In  Protopopoff  was  incarnated  every  evil 
to  which  the  proverbial  Russian  official  of 
story  and  play  was  heir.  He  was  both  Rod 
and  Regulator ;  he  ruled  by  stealth  and 
suppression.  He  not  only  recreated  the 
hated  secret  police  :  he  was  the  police  and 
likewise  the  censorship.  He  developed  his 
forces  until  he  had  a  dread  army  within  the 
gates  that  would  do  any  bidding.  He  es- 
tablished an  espionage  at  which  the  Middle 
Ages  would  have  rebelled. 

Meanwhile  the  Monk  Rasputin — cruel,  sen- 
sual, crafty — had  become  a  Minister  with- 
out Portfolio,  preying  upon  the  fear  and 
superstition  of  courtier  and  commoner  alike 
and  wielding  a  fearsome  and  terrifying 
authority.  With  a  strange  power  that  was 
partly  physical  and  partly  hypnotic,  he  swayed 
the  highest  circles,  made  and  unmade  men 
until  his  very  name  spelled  terror.  His  un- 
holy and  unofficial  sovereignty  gave  the 


(iREGORY    RASPUTIN 


THE   LONG  NIGHT  23 

situation  a  touch  of  mediaeval  mystery  and 
malignity. 

The  long-smouldering  feelings  of  the  Empire 
flared  out  in  November,  1916,  at  the  opening 
of  the  Duma  which  had  been  delayed  as  long 
as  possible  by  the  Government.  The  example 
of  France  and  England  in  remaking  their 
Cabinets  at  this  time  gave  the  movement, 
for  reform  an  additional  impulse,  and  it  was 
voiced  in  no  uncertain  terms.  The  courageous 
exposure  made  by  Milyukoff  in  his  famous 
Duma  speech,  when  he  gave  concrete  evidence 
of  pro-German  plots,  Ministerial  infamy  and 
corruption,  and  laid  bare  the  dread  influence 
exerted  by  the  Dark  Forces,  stirred  the  whole 
country  and  not  only  brought  the  majority 
of  the  upper-middle  classes,  but  some  of  the 
nobility  and  clergy  into  line  with  the  populace. 
When  Sturmer  was  removed,  it  seemed  that 
the  popular  will  had  at  last  become  effective. 
Hope  kindled  in  the  heart  of  Russia.  Hence- 
forth the  Government  was  practically  deserted 
by  everybody  except  the  extreme  reaction- 
aries and  the  pro-Germans.  The  accession 
of  Trepoff  to  the  Premiership  gave  additional 
courage  and  matters  improved,  but  when  he 
was  quickly  succeeded  by  Golitsin,  tarred  with 
the  reactionary  feather,  it  at  once  became 


24       THE  REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 

clear  that  bureaucracy  had  come  back  and 
was  prepared  to  make  a  desperate  stand  for 
its  prerogative  and  its  privilege. 

This  bureaucracy  was  in  reality  a  small 
group  of  men  led  in  the  Ministry  by  Proto- 
popoff,  in  the  Council  of  the  Empire  by 
Scheglovitoff ,  who  was  dismissed  from  Minis- 
terial office  at  the  same  time  as  Sukhomlinoff, 
in  the  Duma  by  Markoff  II.,  in  the  church  by 
Pitirim,  the  Metropolitan  of  Petrograd,  and 
at  the  Court  by  the  Empress  and  Rasputin. 
Here  then  were  the  vultures  that  gnawed  at 
the  very  vitals  of  Russian  national  life. 

In  every  right-thinking  Russian's  mind 
glowed  the  ideal  of  a  Constitution,  and  this 
ideal  became  more  intense  as  the  war  un- 
folded its  tragedies.  The  army  was  hampered 
by  criminal  inadequacy  and  incompetency. 
Munitions  sent  to  Russia  by  her  Allies  never 
reached  the  Front,  either  through  studied 
carelessness  or  deliberate  misappropriation. 
War  appropriations  never  got  beyond  the 
pockets  of  the  plotters  who  throttled  all 
military  effort. 

The  disorganization  arising  from  insufficient 
railway  facilities  was  increased  by  the  division 
of  transport  into  civil  and  military  spheres. 
In  this  way  neither  the  army  nor  the  civil 


THE  LONG  NIGHT  .  25 

population  could  be  properly  served.  Im- 
mense stores  of  supplies  piled  up  at  Archangel 
and  Vladivostock  and  could  not  be  moved 
despite  the  hunger  for  them  on  the  battle 
lines.  Yet  there  was  never  a  dearth  of  wagons 
for  a  Grand  Duke  who  wanted  to  ship 
fertilizer  to  his  estates  or  haul  his  crops 
to  the  market  where  he  garnered  an  illicit 
profit. 

To  combat  this  disorganization,  public- 
spirited  agencies  like  the  Unions  of  the  Towns 
and  of  the  Zemstvos  and  the  War  Industry 
Committee  did  valuable  service.  The  spirit 
that  galvanized  these  organizations  was  the 
spirit  that  later  fed  the  fires  of  revolt.  Their 
importance  and  influence  daily  became  greater 
and  so  aroused  the  alarm  of  the  Government 
that  it  did  all  in  its  power  to  hinder  their  work. 
During  his  term  of  office  Sturmer  introduced 
a  number  of  regulations  placing  obstacles  in 
their  way,  and  on  his  retirement  Protopopoff 
continued  the  same  policy.  In  December, 
1916,  he  forbade  the  general  congress  of  these 
Unions  in  Moscow  on  the  ground  of  their 
infringing  on  work  which  should  be  done  by 
the  Government.  Another  measure  aimed 
directly  at  this  altruistic  work  was  a 
law  giving  the  police  the  right  of  being 


26       THE   REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 

present  at  all  private  meetings  of  any 
organization. 

The  police  force  throughout  the  Empire  was 
strengthened  by  every  possible  means  that 
repression  knew.  Protopopoff  armed  his  men 
with  rifles  and  machine  guns  intended  for  the 
army.  He  now  devoted  himself  almost  ex- 
clusively to  the  development  of  the  police  and 
press  censorship.  This  censorship,  which  had 
always  been  rigorous,  now  became  well-nigh 
intolerable.  Although  not  permitted  bylaw, 
all  the  Duma's  speeches  were  censored,  and  in 
January,  1917,  the  press  was  warned  not  to 
refer  to  the  Government  except  in  the  most 
favourable  terms.  It  became  evident  that 
the  Government  was  using  the  war  while  it 
lasted  to  strengthen  its  hands  at  the  expense 
of  popular  liberty. 

In  the  army  disaffection  was  rampant.  Up 
to  the  beginning  of  the  year  that  was  to 
change  the  face  of  Russia,  there  had  been 
more  than  a  million  intermittent  desertions. 
When  men  were  asked  why  they  came  home 
from  the  Front  in  such  droves,  they  shrugged 
their  shoulders  and  said,  "  Why  stay  and 
fight  when  there  is  nothing  to  fight  with  ?  " 
The  vast  reserves  needlessly  called  out  in 
1916  were  not  kept  for  the  support  of  the 


THE  LONG  NIGHT  27 

armies  in  the  field  but  were  maintained 
nearer  the  Capital,  where  they  could  be  used 
in  case  of  uprising. 

Seventy  per  cent  of  the  munition  blast 
furnaces  were  idle  because  of  fuel  shortage ; 
the  metal  output  (mostly  shells)  had  de- 
creased 75  per  cent.  No  national  effort  was 
encouraged  to  provide  the  army  and  navy 
with  shells  and  equipment  as  was  the  case  in 
France  and  England.  The  army  had  only  two 
days'  food  supply  at  a  time  instead  of  three 
weeks' .  The  removal  of  the  Grand  Duke  Nicho- 
las had  a  depressing  effect  because  he  was 
implicitly  trusted,  and  this  unwavering  trust 
was  never  bestowed  upon  the  Emperor  because 
of  the  known  German  sympathies  of  his  wife. 

Matters  grew  steadily  worse.  The  Court 
and  bureaucratic  liaison  with  Germany  con- 
tinued. The  Emperor  fluttered  about  the 
fringe  of  affairs — an  Imperial  figurehead  of  a 
husband.  When  a  particularly  despicable 
project  was  launched  he  was  sent  off  to  the 
Front  like  a  child  in  the  way  of  his  elders. 
Sadly  the  country  began  to  realize  that  the 
Government  was  influenced  by  only  two 
motives  :  Pro-Germanism  and  Self-interest. 
Russia  was  beset  by  an  enemy  on  the  border 
and  a  more  deadly  foe  at  home. 


28       THE  REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 

Added  to  all  this  was  an  acute  food  and 
fuel  crisis.  All  through  an  exceptionally 
severe  winter  people  had  been  compelled  to 
wait  in  line  in  the  snow  for  bread.  By  the 
beginning  of  March  the  supply  in  Petrograd 
began  to  fail.  The  scarcity  was  not  due  to 
any  lack  of  supplies.  There  was  ample  wheat 
in  the  South  of  Russia,  but  the  chronic 
failure  of  the  Government  to  provide  railway 
equipment  prevented  it  from  being  brought 
to  the  Capital.  The  greed  of  private  con- 
tractors, who  through  bribery  were  enabled 
by  officials  to  hold  up  stores  of  food  until  they 
reached  prohibitive  prices,  was  merely  one 
factor  in  a  crisis  that  was  rapidly  becoming 
unbearable.  In  some  cases  these  contractors 
permitted  perishable  food-stuffs  to  decay 
rather  than  lower  the  price.  Then,  too,  the 
police  became  partners  in  the  food  cabal, 
and  secreted  large  quantities  of  flour  in  the 
stations  waiting  for  favourable  times  to  dis- 
pose of  it  at  large  profits. 

In  order  to  fool  the  people  even  further 
and  give  an  impression  of  food  abun- 
dance, the  Government  sent  long  wagon 
trains  of  supplies  through  the  streets  of 
Petrograd,  but  ordered  them  out  again 
before  they  could  be  emptied  at  the  shops. 


THE  LONG  NIGHT^  29 

Absurd  as  this  deception  seems,  it  was  prac- 
tised more  than  once. 

The  bitter  winter  of  discontent  dragged  on. 
Long  queues  of  people  shivered  for  hours  in 
front  of  the  food  shops  waiting  for  their  dole 
of  bread.  But  even  this  hardship  did  not 
shake  their  patience.  They  consoled  each 
other  that  it  was  merely  part  of  the  war 
sacrifice.  The  Russian  is  a  long-suffering 
soul. 

But  there  were  worse  things  than  the 
frigid  food  vigils.  Husbands,  brothers,  and 
sons  were  being  wasted  at  the  Front  that  the 
vampires  at  home  might  fatten.  A  slow 
anger  began  to  rise.  It  was  heightened  by  the 
sight  of  Sukhomlinoff  released  from  custody  ; 
of  Sturmer  unrepentant  and  unpunished,  of 
all  reaction  flaunting  its  pride  and  its  profit 
into  the  face  of  a  distracted  and  depressed 
nation.  It  was  intolerable. 

Then  came  the  first  blow.  One  morning, 
not  long  after  our  Christmas,  Petrograd  woke 
up  to  find  that  Rasputin  had  been  killed. 
Despite  the  censorship,  the  glad  news  trickled 
through.  One  of  the  darkest  of  the  dark 
forces  had  been  removed,  not  by  plebeian 
hand,  but  through  aristocratic  plot.  It  was 
hatched  by  a  Grand  Duke  and  executed  by  an 


30       THE  REBIRTH   OF  RUSSIA 


officer  of  a  high  social  standing.  By  means 
of  women — Rasputin's  great  weakness — he 
was  lured  to  a  private  house  and  then  handed 
a  revolver. 

"  The  time  has  come  for  you  to  die,"  said 
one  of  the  aristocrats. 

The  monk  seized  the  revolver  and  fired  a 
shot  wildly  through  the  window.  He  was 
immediately  riddled  with  bullets  and  his  body 
was  flung  into  the  Neva.  When  the  policemen, 
who  heard  the  shots,  made  inquiry  as  to 
what  was  going  on,  a  member  of  the  murder 
party  replied,  and  not  without  truth  :  "  A 
troublesome  dog  has  been  killed." 

Though  they  did  not  realize  it  at  the  time, 
with  that  murder  the  people  reached  a 
mile-post  on  their  unconscious  journey 
towards  the  dawn.  But  the  killing  was  not  to 
go  unrebuked. 

"I'll  cover  Russia  with  scaffolds,"  said 
the  Czar  when  he  heard  of  it. 

"  Take  care  that  one  of  them  is  not 
yours,"  replied  a  courtier  more  frank  than 
discreet. 

The  royal  revenge  began.  Rasputin  was 
dead,  but  the  order  that  he  represented  still 
lived,  and  it  set  about  to  strengthen  its  hold. 
Protopopoff  was  charged  with  the  task  of 


THE  LONG  NIGHT  31 

administering  the  lesson  on  the  populace 
which  had  begun  to  take  heart  again.  That 
silent  anger  over  public  and  private  wrongs 
was  not  to  be  trifled  with.  The  bureaucrats 
knew  that  a  successful  revolution  at  this 
time  would  disrupt  the  underground  railway 
between  Potsdam  and  Petrograd  and  endanger 
the  separate  peace  they  so  greatly  desired. 
The  people  were  ripe  for  revolt.  Now  was 
the  time  to  provoke  uprising  and  then  over- 
whelm it  so  that  it  would  never  lift  its  head 
again. 

Although  the  people  were  revolt-ripe,  few 
had  any  idea  that  a  successful  revolution 
could  be  undertaken.  They  realized  that 
any  such  attempt  would  only  increase  their 
disorganization  and  really  be  capitalized  by 
the  enemy.  For  one  thing,  they  feared  that 
the  army  would  remain  loyal  to  the  Emperor, 
and  besides,  the  immense  reinforcements  of 
police  everywhere  had  to  be  reckoned  with. 
They  received  the  news  of  the  postponement 
of  the  Duma  in  January  with  calmness,  and 
this  seeming  supineness  now  emboldened  the 
Government  to  direct  provocation.  Their 
diabolical  task  seemed  almost  too  easy. 

Conditions  favoured  the  conspirators.  The 
Duma  was  about  to  be  convened  and  social- 


32       THE  REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 

istic  protests  were  likely.  These  might  be 
construed  as  the  seeds  of  revolt,  so  every 
preparation  was  made  for  emergencies. 
Protopopoff,  in  anticipation  of  trouble,  con- 
cealed machine  guns  (sent  from  England,  by 
the  way,  and  intended  for  the  forces  in  the 
field)  at  all  commanding  positions  in  the 
city,  where  they  could  sweep  the  streets ; 
he  sent  "  Black  Hundred "  agitators  into 
the  factories  to  stir  up  strikes  and  waited. 
It  was  a  beautiful  scheme,  but  the  people  did 
not  fall  for  it.  The  Duma  convened  without 
disorder.  The  workmen  remained  at  their 
lathes.  The  great  mass  of  the  people  suffered 
and  shivered  in  the  bread  lines  and  took  refuge 
behind  their  immemorial  patience. 

The  last  desperate  attempt  at  provocation 
developed.  Through  police  and  other  agencies 
(as  revelations  during  and  after  the  Revolu- 
tion proved),  Protopopoff  hoarded  and 
diverted  the  food  and  fuel  supplies  until  there 
was  an  actual  shortage.  What  covert  intimi- 
dation had  started,  famine  would  now  render 
complete.  Yet  he  did  not  reckon  with  the 
extent  to  which  hunger  will  drive.  The 
slender  stores  in  the  shops  were  soon  ex- 
hausted, and  there  was  a  new  finale  to  the 
long  and  chilling  wait  in  the  bread-line.  It 


Elliott  &•  Fry 


M.    PROTOPOPOFF 


THE  LONG  NIGHT  33 

was  the  empty  hand  and  the  emptier 
stomach. 

Then  it  was  that  men  and  women,  driven 
by  the  pangs  of  hunger  and  weary  with  fruit- 
less waiting,  went  forth,  not  to  doom,  but 
to  destiny.  When  they  smashed  the  first 
window  they  unwittingly  struck  the  first 
blow  for  their  liberties.  They  did  not  know 
(and  this  fact  makes  the  Revolution  so  re- 
markable) that  they  had  loosed  the  whirl- 
wind. All  they  knew  was  that  they  were 
hungry  and  cold  and  determined  to  get  the 
wherewithal  to  live. 

The  desire  to  eat  which  had  fanned  the 
flame  of  the  French  Revolution  into  a  con- 
suming fury,  again  became  the  relentless 
medium  which  now  changed  the  conspiracy 
of  class  into  a  conquest  by  the  mass. 

A  Juggernaut  which  was  to  crush  demo- 
cracy was  converted  into  the  Chariot  of 
Freedom. 


CHAPTER   II 

The  Great  Awakening 


IT  was  on  Thursday,  March  8 — a  date 
unique  in  the  annals  of  freedom — that 
these  scattered  demonstrations  began. 
Although  hunger  and  discontent  stirred 
the  great  mass  of  the  people,  there  was  no 
outward  or  violent  manifestation  of  the 
anger  that  was  soon  to  find  expression  in 
history-making  fashion.  The  first  evidence 
that  the  Government  had  taken  notice  of 
the  food  protest  was  the  galloping  of  small 
companies  of  Cossacks  at  full  speed  down  the 
Nevsky  Prospect,  the  principal  thoroughfare 
of  Petrograd.  They  came  and  went  so 
swiftly,  however,  that  their  passage  only 
caused  momentary  gossip.  The  general  im- 
pression among  the  people  was  that  industrial 
trouble  had  started  in  the  factories  across 
the  river. 

In  view  of  what  developed,  it  is  interesting, 
perhaps,  to  get  some  mental  picture  of  what 
was  happening  in  this  city  of  the  Czar  that 

34 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING        35 

memorable  March  day.  For  the  moment 
Petrograd  seemed  to  be  a  quiet  backwater 
aloof  from  the  sanguinary  whirlpool  of  the 
Great  War.  There  had  been  practically  no 
news  from  the  Russian  Fronts  for  some  time, 
and  the  new  successes  of  the  British  and 
French  on  the  Western  Front  had  not  aroused 
any  particular  enthusiasm.  Save  among  the 
incendiary  workmen,  who  plotted  in  the 
dark,  there  was  little  or  no  talk  of  Revolution. 
The  very  fact  that  the  opening  of  the  Duma 
a  short  time  before  had  been  accomplished 
so  quietly  was  one  definite  reason  why  the 
average  person  had  no  thought  of  uprising. 

By  a  curious  piece  of  irony,  the  Duma  at 
that  very  hour  was  occupying  itself  with  a 
solemn  and  stupid  debate  on  the  question  of 
food  supplies.  The  Minister  of  Agriculture, 
Rittich,  was  defending  his  measures,  and  with 
glib  platitudes  was  assuring  the  great  mass  of 
the  people  that  they  were  needlessly  alarmed, 
and  that,  before  many  weeks  would  pass,  the 
stomach  would  be  satisfied.  This  sort  of 
amiable  reassurance  had  done  its  work  before, 
and  there  seemed  no  reason  why  it  should  not 
continue  to  appease  and  satisfy. 

The  so-called  "  Intelligentia  "  of  Petrograd, 
which,  for  the  want  of  a  better  definition, 


36       THE  REBIRTH   OF  RUSSIA 

might  be  termed  the  educated  classes,  was 
somewhat  agitated  over  the  recent  premier 
at  the  Alexander  Theatre  of  an  elaborate 
revival  of  Lermontov's  "  Masquerade  " — a 
production  that  had  been  five  years  in  prepara- 
tion, and  made  on  a  scale  of  splendour  and 
extravagance  that  was  in  sharp  contrast  with 
the  spectacle  of  a  distracted  nation.  As  the 
audiences  came  and  went  from  this  and 
other  theatres,  their  cabs  had  frequently  to 
break  through  the  long  and  shivering  lines  of 
people  waiting  in  apparently  endless  streams 
before  the  food  bazaars,  i 

But  that  lane  of  shivering  and  waiting 
humanity  had  its  inevitable  turning.  When 
these  men  and  women  who  had  suffered  in 
the  icy  blasts  for  hours  found  the  supplies 
exhausted  and  their  ordeal  vain,  a  snarl  of 
bitter  disappointment  went  up.  A  dozen 
shops  were  stormed,  and  what  little  food  was 
found  was  distributed  among  the  people. 
The  shopkeepers  always  kept  a  reserve  stock. 
The  outstanding  fact  to  be  borne  in  mind  in 
connection  with  this  most  informal  outbreak 
is  that  it  was  done  without  fury  or  fighting. 
There  was  no  other  disorder. 

The  next  morning  it  was  very  evident  that  a 
spirit  of  unrest  was  abroad.  It  was  not  the 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING        37 

long  dull  irritation  over  continuous  abuse 
of  all  public  patience;  it  was  a  definite 
something,  electric  with  an  unseen  fire,  that 
boded  no  good.  A  number  of  the  daily 
newspapers,  and  particularly  the  "  Bourse 
Gazette  "  and  the  "  Russkaya  Volya,"  did  not 
appear.  It  was  an  ominous  sign — a  significant 
silence. 

Yet  the  newspapers  that  did  appear, 
whether  by  accident  or  design,  made  pro- 
test against  the  existing  conditions.  The 
"  Retch,"  of  which  Milyukoff  was  a  con- 
tributing editor,  spoke  fearlessly  in  the  fol- 
lowing strain : 

"  The  country  must  be  organized  and  the 
population  made  to  feel  that  everything  will 
be  done  to  relieve  the  critical  position  which 
has  arisen.  If  only  the  population  can  be 
given  this  assurance  we  shall  see  a  different 
picture  at  once.  But  without  this  all  efforts 
will  fail,  and  uncertainty  and  even  worse  will 
grow  like  a  snowball." 

Something  more  deadly  than  a  snowball  was 
piling  up  in  Petrograd.  As  the  day  developed 
strikes  started  in  many  of  the  factories.  But 
they  were  not  the  strikes  instigated  by  the 
professional  agitators  of  the  Government. 
They  grew  out  of  the  efforts  of  revolutionary 


38        THE  REBIRTH   OF  RUSSIA 

workmen  who  realized  that  the  hideous  ordeal 
of  having  to  stand  all  night  in  a  bread  line 
and  then  go  to  work  the  next  morning  with 
an  empty  stomach  must  end. 

The  cry  for  food  became  a  dull  roar.  Vast 
crowds  began  to  assemble  on  the  Nevsky. 
They  were,  in  the  main,  students  and  workmen 
whose  exterior  betrayed  no  violent  intent- 
But  in  their  eyes  was  a  fixed  purpose.  The 
throng  included  many  women  and  children, 
largely  impelled  by  that  curiosity  which  is 
such  a  strong  Russian  characteristic. 

Suddenly  the  Cossacks  appeared,  and  the 
multitude  groaned.  Here  at  last  were  the 
tools  of  the  despised  authority — the  relentless 
force  that  had  trampled  every  other  uprising 
under  foot.  Now  came  the  first  of  the  many 
miracles  that  were  to  bewilder  Petrograd  in 
the  stirring  days  to  come. 

Instead  of  charging  the  assembly,  these 
fierce  and  bearded  soldiers  rode  carefully 
among  the  people.  The  crowd,  in  turn,  made 
way  for  them  and  cheered  as  they  went. 
"  Tovarishchi "  (comrades)  yelled  the  multi- 
tude, and  the  glad  word  came  echoing  back  from 
the  men  on  horseback.  The  monsters  smiled — 
they  had  become  human.  It  was  incredible 
but  true.  Their  cruel  whips,  that  had  been 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING        39 

the  scourge  of  other  days,  hung  idly  from  their 
saddle-bows.  The  students  mingled  fear- 
lessly with  their  one-time  oppressors  who 
assured  them  that  they  would  not  shoot  even 
if  their  officers  commanded  them.  By  night- 
fall the  packed  streets  buzzed  with  the  revela- 
tion. 

Violent  hostility  was  shown  towards  the 
police,  however,  and  some  stones  and  bottles 
were  hurled  at  them  near  the  Kazan  Cathe- 
dral, the  most  prominent  building  on 
the  Nevsky  Prospect.  During  the  after- 
noon an  event  of  the  utmost  significance 
occurred.  Four  workmen  were  arrested  and 
concealed  in  one  of  the  numerous  courtyards 
in  a  street  that  led  off  the  Nevsky.  The 
hostile  crowd  immediately  rushed  in  to  rescue 
them.  A  group  of  soldiers  stationed  in  the 
courtyard  had  already  raised  their  rifles  to  fire, 
when  a  band  of  Cossacks  rode  up,  rescued  the 
workmen  and  delivered  them  to  the  crowd. 

There  was  still  no  sign  of  Revolution.  It 
was  evident  that  the  great  mass  of  the  people 
were  waiting  to  see  what  would  happen.  The 
only  open  hostility  so  far  had  been  directed 
at  the  police. 

Encouraged  by  the  friendliness  of  the  Cos- 
sacks the  workmen  now  went  to  lengths  they 


40       THE  REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 

had  never  before  attempted.  The  soapbox 
orator  broke  loose  in  every  direction,  and  he 
had  eager  and  willing  audiences.  One  of 
these  men  addressed  a  crowd  in  the  middle  of 
the  Nevsky,  saying,  "  We  must  get  rid  of  the 
Sturmers  and  the  Golitsins  and  the  Proto- 
popoffs.  The  people  need  bread,  they  cannot 
work  without  it." 

He  was  interrupted  with  several  cries  of 
"  Down  with  the  War,"  whereupon  he  replied  : 
"  No,  the  War  must  go  on.  Remember  the 
blood  of  our  brothers  and  sons  must  not 
be  spilt  for  nothing.  The  thing  to  do  is  to  get 
rid  of  the  Government." 

In  these  few  words  he  unconsciously  laid 
bare  one  of  the  fundamental  reasons  why  the 
Revolution  succeeded.  It  lay  in  the  fact 
that  a  costly  human  sacrifice  had  been  laid  on 
the  altar  of  war,  and  the  people  were  deter- 
mined that  this  sacrifice  should  not  be  in  vain. 
The  War  was  another  Calvary  ! 

This  speech  was  wildly  applauded.  It  was 
observed  that  while  the  man  spoke  a  group  of 
Cossacks  rode  up  and  listened  with  interest, 
made  no  attempt  to  disperse  the  crowd  or 
interrupt  the  speaker. 

Night  fell  on  a  city  uneasy  and  unquiet. 
Outwardly  there  was  no  sign  of  Revolution, 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING        41 

but  under  the  surface  seethed  the  great  thing. 
Petrograd  was  a  volcano  that  slumbered. 

Saturday  morning  found  the  streets  again 
crowded  with  curious  people.  But  there  was 
a  distinct  change  in  the  vague  unrest  which 
had  lurked  in  the  air  the  day  before.  It 
seemed  to  be  crystallizing.  The  reason  was 
that  all  night  long  there  had  been  meetings 
of  workmen  stung  to  the  limit  of  endurance 
by  the  lack  of  food.  On  Saturday  morning 
thousands  refused  to  return  to  work.  Self- 
preservation  was  the  first  duty,  so  they  joined 
the  mobs  that  swarmed  everywhere. 

The  casual  passer-by  could  discern  a  new 
element  in  the  atmosphere.  There  was  still 
curiosity,  still  a  friendly  attitude  towards  the 
Cossacks  and  the  soldiers  who  had  reinforced 
them.  But  more  than  one  man  asked  his 
neighbour  if  the  time  had  not  come  for  action, 
and  if  it  were  not  a  crime  to  allow  the  present 
opportunity  for  a  determined  and  organized 
protest  to  pass. 

By  Saturday  afternoon  what  amounted 
practically  to  a  general  strike  was  on  in 
Petrograd.  The  crowds  of  students  and 
women  that  made  the  Nevsky  almost  one 
solid  mass  of  humanity,  had  been  reinforced 
by  hosts  of  workmen.  The  cheerfulness  and 


42       THE  REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 

laughter  had  subsided.  On  account  of  the 
terrific  congestion  the  tramway  service  had 
been  suspended,  and  most  of  the  sleighs  had 
stopped.  The  almost  complete  lack  of  trans- 
portation facilities  gave  the  city  a  strange 
hushed  look. 

Mounted  police  now  reinforced  the  Cossacks 
and  troops,  and  with  their  advent  the  clash 
came.  Just  off  the  Nevsky  one  of  them 
killed  a  man  who  refused  to  be  jostled.  It 
was  the  first  shot  of  the  Revolution,  and,  like 
the  report  that  rang  out  that  April  day  on  the 
Massachusetts  hill-side,  was  destined  to  be 
heard  around  the  world. 

Up  to  this  time  there  had  only  been  an 
orderly  protest  against  the  gnawing  food 
shortage — a  deficiency  which  everybody  in 
Petrograd  knew  was  within  the  power  of  the 
authorities  to  remedy.  With  the  shedding  of 
blood  the  bars  of  restraint  fell.  The  people 
turned  blindly  on  the  police  (there  was  no 
hatred  for  Cossack  or  soldier),  hurled  sticks 
and  stones,  and  erected  rude  barricades.  The 
firing  began. 

But  a  significant  thing  happened.  When 
called  upon  to  shoot,  the  soldiers  aimed  at  the 
ground  or  in  the  air.  More  than  one  officer, 
enraged  at  the  sight,  seized  a  rifle  from  a 


THE   GREAT  AWAKENING        43 

private  and  got  his  victim.  It  was  a  small 
price  to  pay  for  a  great  knowledge.  Hope 
clutched  at  the  hearts  of  the  people.  With 
the  army  everything  was  possible.  In  that 
costly  moment  of  sacrifice  was  born  the  idea 
that  perhaps  deliverance  was  near.  Still 
there  was  no  outward  sign  of  organized  revolt. 

In  the  early  evening  there  was  sporadic 
shooting,  and  some  of  the  shots  seemed  to 
come  from  soldiers.  Upon  investigation  it 
was  found  that  these  supposed  soldiers  were 
police  who  had  attired  themselves  in  military 
uniforms,  hoping  thus  to  enflame  the  mind 
of  the  populace  against  the  army.  The  ruse 
did  not  succeed. 

The  theatres  were  open,  the  cinematograph 
shows  were  in  full  blast  and  crowded,  and  the 
city,  except  for  the  absence  of  tramcars,  seemed 
normal.  But  if  you  had  listened  carefully  to 
the  conversations  of  the  hundreds  of  groups 
that  were  assembled  everywhere,  you  would 
have  heard  the  serious  talk  of  protest,  the 
speech  that  proclaimed  impending  event. 
Workmen  were  holding  meetings  in  scores  of 
halls,  while  in  the  Duma  there  was  anxiety 
and  expectation.  Petrograd  went  to  an  un- 
easy bed.  No  one  knew  what  the  morrow 
would  bring  forth. 


44       THE  REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 

That  morrow  dawned  on  blue  skies  and 
brilliant  sunshine  and  with  a  touch  of  spring 
despite  the  glistening  snow.  Nature  was 
stirring,  but  not  more  so  than  those  vast 
forces  unconsciously  crouched  for  momentous 
leap. 

Overnight  the  Government  had  not  been 
idle.  It  suddenly  realized  that  the  consum- 
mation of  the  plot  against  the  people  was 
near  at  hand,  little  dreaming  of  the  colossal 
surprise  that  an  outraged  public  patience  had 
in  store. 

When  the  citizens  returned  to  the  streets 
that  Sunday  morning,  they  found  the  walls 
placarded  with  warnings  showing  that  the 
Government  had  decided  on  the  sternest 
measures.  An  official  proclamation,  signed 
by  Kajbaloff,  the  Military  Governor  of  the 
town,  stated  that  workmen  who  did  not 
return  to  work  would  be  sent  to  the  Front 
immediately.  People  were  warned  not  to 
assemble  in  the  streets,  as  the  police  and 
military  were  authorized  to  disperse  them 
with  all  the  force  at  their  disposal.  These 
notices,  of  course,  went  unheeded. 

It  was  at  once  apparent  that  the  Govern- 
ment had  greatly  strengthened  its  forces. 
Every  highway  was  patrolled,  and  thousands 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING        45 

of  troops  were  on  guard.  But  no  Cossacks 
were  to  be  seen.  Their  absence  was  much 
commented  upon.  Despite  the  almost  over- 
whelming military  force  that  surrounded 
them,  it  made  the  people  bolder  than  ever 
before.  They  surged  into  the  prohibited 
area.  The  police  had  their  orders  to  clear  the 
thoroughfare,  and  they  did  it  the  only  way 
they  knew  how* — with  the  bullet.  There  was 
no  wholesale  slaughter,  but  during  the  after- 
noon, and  in  a  dozen  places  throughout  the 
city,  more  than  two  hundred  men,  women,  and 
children  paid  with  their  lives  for  the  curiosity 
that  took  them  abroad.  Although  they 
weltered  in  blood,  they  refused  to  strike  back. 
The  people  had  bitten  at  the  bait  set  out  for 
their  undoing,  but  not  sharply  enough  to 
satisfy  the  baiters.  Apparently  they  could 
not  even  be  coerced  into  their  downfall. 

As  dusk  crept  over  the  city,  more  than  one 
heart  sank  at  the  realization  that  what  had 
seemed  an  opportunity  to  rise  the  day  before 
had  gone  the  way  of  all  other  possibilities. 
It  had  not  even  attained  the  dignity  of  a 
Revolution. 

But,  even  as  hope  ebbed,  the  situation  was 
cleared  by  a  swift  and  sensational  event. 
In  the  Duma,  which  had  remained  in  awed 


46       THE  REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 

and  apprehensive  session,  its  President,  the 
mighty  Rodzianko — man  of  iron  and  action — 
took  the  initiative.  He  sent  the  Czar  the 
following  telegram  : 

"  Situation  serious.  Anarchy  reigns  in  the 
capital.  Government  is  paralysed.  Trans- 
port, food  and  fuel  supplies  are  utterly 
disorganized.  General  discontent  growing. 
Disorderly  firing  is  going  on  in  the  streets. 
Various  companies  of  soldiers  are  shooting  at 
each  other.  It  is  absolutely  necessary  to 
invest  some  one  who  enjoys  the  confidence 
of  the  people  with  powers  to  form  a  new 
Government.  No  time  must  be  lost.  Any 
delay  may  be  fatal.  I  pray  God  that  at  this 
hour  the  responsibility  may  not  fall  on  the 
bearer  of  the  Crown." 

At  the  same  time  Rodzianko  sent  copies  of 
this  telegram  to  the  various  Commanders 
at  the  Front,  and  asked  for  their  support  in  his 
action.  At  last  a  man  had  arisen  ! 

Without  waiting  for  a  reply  from  the 
Emperor,  the  Government  acted,  and  in 
characteristic  fashion.  It  realized  that  the 
Duma  had  to  be  throttled.  The  Premier — 
Golitsin — had  a  blank  form  for  dissolution 
for  just  such  an  emergency,  and  he  served  it. 
The  Duma  was  dissolved. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING        47 

Now  came  Rodzianko's  great  hour.  Shak- 
ing the  order  for  dissolution  in  his  huge 
hand,  and  in  a  voice  that  boomed  like  a 
bombardment,  he  said  : 

"  They  have  dissolved  the  Duma,  but  it 
will  not  be  dissolved.  Stand  with  me,  my 
colleagues.  From  this  time  on,  the  Duma  is 
the  constituted  authority  of  Russia." 

He  had  faced  death  on  many  a  hard-fought 
field,  but  never  did  he  place  his  life  in  such 
open  jeopardy  as  in  this  moment  when  he 
defied  the  fates.  He  was  not  to  stand  alone. 
His  towering  body — a  mountain  of  angry 
flesh  —  became  the  Rock  of  Revolution. 
About  it  gathered  the  elements  that  only 
needed  a  leader. 

From  that  time  until  the  Provisional 
Government  was  established,  the  ugly  yellow 
and  white  Duma  building,  flanked  by  quiet 
gardens  and  where  reaction  had  mocked  at 
freedom,  became  the  Gibraltar  of  Uprising. 
.  In  it  was  born  the  new  Freedom.  Before 
the  Sabbath  day  which  ushered  in  Russia's 
Week  of  Weeks  had  ended,  Revolution  was 
at  last  articulate. 

All  that  night  Petrograd  quivered  with 
agitation,  but  it  produced  the  two  agencies 
that,  with  the  Duma,  brought  about  the 


48       THE  REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 

Supreme  Decision.  One  was  the  army  in 
the  city,  which,  when  beset  with  the  question 
of  firing  on  its  own  flesh  and  blood  to-morrow, 
declared  for  humanity.  The  other  was  the 
group  of  revolutionary  workmen  hitherto 
planning  in  secret  that  emerged  with  the  new 
day  as  the  Council  of  Labour. 

Here  then  were  the  weapons — uncouth 
and  unformed- — that  were  to  overthrow  the 
most  buttressed  of  all  autocracies  before 
another  sun  had  set. 


CHAPTER    III 

The  Day  of  Decision 


AS  if  by  magic,  Petrograd  bloomed  like 
a  crimson  rose  on  Monday  morning.  No 
one  knew  how  or  why,  but  on  all  sides 
flaunted  the  red  flag  of  Revolution ;    "  The 
Marseillaise "    was    on    every    tongue.     The 
apathy  and  indecision  of  Sunday  seemed  to 
have   vanished   with   the   night.     The   issue 
was  at  hand,  the  stage  was  set,  and,  almost 
before  the  people  realized  it,  they  were  in  the 
midst  of  delirious  and  dramatic  doings. 

Long  before  nine  o'clock,  the  streets  were 
black  with  crowds.  Petrograd  was  all 
curiosity  and  eagerness  to  know  what  would 
happen.  There  were  troops  everywhere,  and 
it  was  not  long  before  these  men  in  gray 
revealed  the  result  of  the  great  decision  which 
the  stormy  discussions  of  the  night  before  had 
evoked. 

In  other  outbreaks,  the  so-called  household 
troops,  together  with  Cossacks,  always  stood 
their  ground,  bulwark  of  the  imperial  hope> 

49  D 


50       THE  REBIRTH   OF  RUSSIA 


slave   of   the   royal   command.     But   things 
were  different  now. 

The  die  had  been  cast  and  another  one 
of  the  miracles  was  about  to  happen.  The 
Preobrajenskys,  finest  of  the  Guards  Regi- 
ments, and  long  the  chief  pride  and  protection 
of  the  Russian  monarchy,  revolted  when 
ordered  to  fire  on  the  mob,  shot  some  of  its 
officers,  and  then  marched  down  the  street 
singing  and  cheering. 

The  Volynskys — also  of  the  Guards. — sent  to 
coerce  mutineers,  joined  them,  and  were  soon 
followed  by  the  Pavlovskys.  By  noon,  nearly 
twenty  thousand  troops,  the  flower  of  the 
army,  had  ranged  themselves  on  the  side  of 
the  multitude. 

At  first  they  wandered  about  like  school- 
boys broken  out  of  school.  They  did  not 
loot ;  there  was  no  drunkenness ;  they 
only  shouted,  cheered,  argued.  Crowds 
of  workmen  joined  them,  and  the  dis- 
organized and  officerless  mass  stormed  and 
captured  the  Arsenal.  An  immense  store  of 
arms  and  ammunition  fell  into  the  hands  of 
the  populace,  who  could  now  return  the  fire 
of  the  police. 

Things  now  moved  with  breathless 
rapidity.  Every  regiment  sent  out  from 


barracks  to  quell  the  rising  flood  of  revolt 
only  helped  to  swell  it.  The  whole  city 
was  caught  in  the  swirling  eddies  of  bloody 
battle.  The  day  of  reckoning  was  at  hand. 

Petrograd  seethed  with  the  rage  and  the 
activity  of  a  thoroughly  roused  people.  They 
had  weapons  in  their  hands,  and,  regardless  of 
what  might  happen  afterwards,  the  old  scores 
would  be  settled.  The  support  of  the  army 
was  as  the  breath  of  life  to  the  cause  that 
now  grew  stronger  with  every  passing  hour. 

For  years  the  prisons  of  the  city  had 
loomed  up  like  houses  of  mystery  and  murder. 
To  the  average  man  they  represented  the 
tombs  of  hope.  They  became  the  first  targets 
of  popular  fury.  First  of  all  the  Preventive 
prison  was  opened,  and  a  number  of  political 
as  well  as  criminal  prisoners  released.  An 
hour  later  the  Kresty  prison  on  the  Viborg 
side  in  town  was  opened,  and  set  on  fire,  but 
not  until  every  inmate  behind  its  bars  had 
been  set  free.  Thirdly,  the  Deportation  jail 
was  loosed  and  still  another  crowd  swarmed 
forth  to  freedom. 

Strange  as  it  seems,  there  were  no  actual 
leaders.  The  streets  swarmed  with  what 
seemed  to  be  a  confused  jumble  of  soldiers  and 
armed  workmen  and  students.  By  instinct 


52       THE  REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 


they  turned  on  their  consistent  oppressors, 
the  police.  Every  station-house  was  fired, 
and  the  detestable  records,  dossiers,  and  in- 
dictments which  had  so  long  suppressed  and 
thwarted  the  life  and  liberty  of  the  people 
were  quashed  by  flame. 

But  greatest  prize  of  all  was  the  destruction 
of  the  home  of  the  secret  political  police. 
This  hotbed  of  reaction  and  mainspring  of 
German  intrigue  had  well  been  called  the 
devious  spider's  web  into  which  every  frank 
and  fearless  patriot  had  been  drawn.  It  was 
an  object  of  almost  fanatical  hatred,  and  the 
spectacle  of  its  burned  and  blackened  hulk 
was  the  sign  to  all  Russia  that  the  people 
had  kindled  one  great  beacon  on  the  hill-top 
of  their  fast-dawning  liberty.  What  the 
taking  of  the  Bastille  had  been  to  Paris,  the 
destruction  of  this  Citadel  of  the  Secret 
Service  was  to  Petrograd.  It  marked  an 
epoch. 

While  this  funeral  pyre  of  espionage  was 
still  blazing,  the  fortress  of  SS.  Peter  and  Paul 
was  captured  after  a  very  slight  resistance. 
Here  was  housed  the  Royal  tomb  and  the 
Mint.  Thus  even  the  last  resting-place  of  the 
dictators  was  now  swept  by  the  cool  clean 
breath  of  freedom. 


M.  B.  RODZIANKO 


THE  DAY  OF  DECISION          53 

Still  no  word  came  from  the  Czar.  Despite 
all  its  elaborate  preparation,  the  Government 
for  the  moment  seemed  helpless  in  the  face  of 
the  raging  upheaval.  Rodzianko  now  sent  a 
second  telegram  to  the  Czar  which  read  : 

"  Matters  becoming  worse.  Must  take  im- 
mediate steps  or  to-morrow  may  be  too  late. 
The  last  hour  is  come  in  which  to  decide  the 
fate  of  the  country  and  the  dynasty." 

Then  for  the  first  time  the  Emperor  spoke. 
He  wired  the  Military  Governor  of  Petrograd 
that  he  was  sending  an  army  from  the  Front 
to  quell  the  insurrection,  and  that  he  would 
come  in  person  to  be  in  at  the  death  of  the 
abortive  attempt.  It  was  the  last  order 
that  the  Little  Father  was  to  give  to  the 
people  who  had  been  his  obedient  children. 
He  did  not  know  it,  but  the  reins  of  power 
had  for  ever  passed  from  his  hands. 

Meanwhile  the  disorganized  revolt  had 
developed  into  a  more  or  less  systematic 
insurrection.  The  streets  and  four-fifths  of 
the  city  were  in  complete  possession  of  the 
Revolutionists,  who  now  seized  hundreds  of 
motor-cars  and  lorries,  manned  them  with 
armed  men  who  tied  red  rags  to  their  bayonet 
points  and  raced  madly  through  the  streets. 
It  was  a  new  kind  of  joy  riding. 


54       THE  REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 

Now  began  a  man-hunt  without  precedent. 
All  the  troops  had  come  over  to  the  people ; 
only  the  detested  police  remained  to  be  routed. 
Protopopoff  had  cached  them  on  roofs  with 
abundant  supplies  of  food,  and  from  these 
vantage  points  they  sniped.  A  shot  from  the 
top  of  a  building  became  the  signal  for  the 
doom  of  every  inmate.  Day  and  night  this 
relentless  police  pursuit  continued.  They 
were  dug  out  like  rats.  In  their  rage  the 
pursuers  often  flung  their  oppressors  into  the 
street,  sometimes  after  killing  them  with  their 
naked  hands.  It  is  doubtful  if  any  other 
great  popular  upheaval  has  ever  witnessed 
such  bitterness  as  was  displayed  by  the  people 
of  Petrograd  against  the  police.  The  only 
parallel  perhaps  may  be  found  in  the  attitude 
of  the  citizens  towards  the  aristocracy  during 
the  French  Revolution. 

This  ruthless  hunt  was  not  without  its 
picturesque  detail.  A  squad  from  one  of  the 
Guards  regiments  were  accosted  at  the  corner 
of  a  street  by  a  Boy  Scout  not  more  than  ten 
years  of  age.  He  held  a  large  Browning 
pistol  in  one  hand,  and  with  the  other  grasped 
an  officer's  sword.  "  Come,  you  men, 
quickly,"  he  said,  "  I  know  where  two 
policemen  are  hiding."  With  smiling  faces 


THE  DAY  OF  DECISION          55 

the  men  followed  their  little  guide  into  a  yard, 
and  were  absent  about  ten  minutes.  Presently 
the  Scout  came  out  with  the  utmost  satisfac- 
tion and  leading  forth  his  small  company  of 
good-humoured  giants  with  two  policemen,  in 
a  dishevelled  state,  in  their  midst. 

Amid  this  tumult  of  revenge  and  revolt  were 
revealed  qualities  that  made  the  insurrection 
unique  and  distinct.  Out  of  the  chaos  came 
a  crude  order,  and  with  it  the  marshalling  of 
virtues  that  in  such  an  hour  of  righteous 
retribution  seemed  foreign.  It  was  a  liberal 
education  in  control.  Whatever  economic 
excesses  may  hamper  the  period  of  Russian 
readjustment,  this  restraint  will  always  be  a 
badge  of  honour  for  the  men  who  rode  the 
whirlwind  Revolution. 

First  of  all,  and  with  the  unconsciousness 
which  marked  so  much  of  the  revolutionary 
effort  (it  was  nothing  more  than  instinct),  was 
the  formation  of  a  civilian  police.  "  If  our 
cause  must  prevail,"  said  Rodzianko,  "  we 
must  first  have  order."  Students,  most  of 
them  mere  boys,  formed  the  force,  and  they 
remained  for  months  the  only  sign  of  armed 
control  in  Petrograd. 

Although  many  shops  were  emptied  of  their 
stores,  they  were,  in  the  main,  establishments 


of  greedy  merchants  who  had  imposed  upon 
the  need  of  the  people.  A  sort  of  Robin  Hood 
reprisal  was  vented. 

Some  troops  were  fired  on  by  the  police 
from  the  roof  of  the  Astoria  Hotel,  where 
many  of  the  Government  officers  lived,  and 
where  liquor  was  dispensed  in  violation  of 
the  prohibition  law.  It  was  immediately  at- 
tacked and  searched.  But,  instead  of  drinking 
the  large  stores  of  wine  in  the  cellars,  the 
soldiers  poured  it  in  the  gutter. 

The  absence  of  vodka  proved  to  be  a 
blessing  of  the  first  magnitude,  and  contri- 
buted enormously  to  the  success  of  the  enter- 
prise. Indeed,  in  looking  back  over  those 
stirring  days,  it  is  quite  evident  that  when  the 
Czar  signed  the  decree  for  the  prohibition  of 
liquor  at  the  beginning  of  the  war  he  likewise 
signed  the  death-warrant  of  the  Romanoffs. 

During  the  raid  on  the  Astoria  Hotel  a 
woman  offered  some  soldiers  a  handful  of 
money  to  protect  her. 

"  Keep  your  money,"  said  a  brawny 
sergeant,  "  we  are  on  a  different  job  now." 
Here  was  the  repression  that  became  one  of 
the  marvels  of  that  marvellous  hour. 

Although  every  one  knew  that  vast  transi- 
tion was  in  process,  there  was  no  actual  news, 


THE  DAY  OF  DECISION          57 

for  the  newspapers  had  all  suspended  publica- 
tion. On  the  very  first  night  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, handbills,  written  and  printed  by  volun- 
teers, appeared  on  the  streets  for  free  distribu- 
tion. They  told  briefly  and  frankly  just  what 
was  happening.  Publicity,  the  old  foe  of  the 
crumbling  system,  was  turned  full  tilt  upon  the 
new  order.  The  knowledge  of  what  was  going 
on  brought  comfort  and  cheer  to  those  who 
stood  on  the  frontiers  of  the  tremendous  events. 

The  Duma  seethed.  At  this  tribunal  of 
the  budding  nation,  Rodzianko  and  his  co- 
horts kept  incessant  watch.  All  roads  led  to  it : 
it  was  both  camp  and  court.  Regiment  after 
regiment  marched  in  to  offer  loyalty.  The 
accession  of  the  famous  Preobrajensky  Guards 
provided  a  stirring  and  characteristic  incident. 

The  men  and  their  officers  (for  all  of  them 
were  not  shot),  giants  all,  were  drawn  up  in 
ranks,  four  deep,  down  the  whole  length  of 
the  huge  Catherine  Hall.  Rodzianko  stepped 
forth  to  welcome  them.  On  his  appearance, 
the  commanding  officer's  voice  rang  out : 
"  Preobrajensky,  attention  !  "  and  the  whole 
regiment  stood  at  salute. 

The  President  of  the  Duma  then  addressed 
them  as  follows  : 

"  I  want  to  thank  you  for  coming  here  to 


58       THE  REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 

help  the  members  of  the  Imperial  Duma  to 
establish  order  and  to  safeguard  the  honour 
and  glory  of  your  country.  Your  comrades 
are  fighting  in  the  trenches  for  the  might  and 
majesty  of  Russia,  and  I  am  proud  that  my 
son  has  been  serving  since  the  beginning  of 
the  war  in  your  gallant  ranks.  But,  in  order 
that  you  should  be  able  to  advance  the  cause 
and  interests  which  have  been  undertaken 
by  the  Duma,  you  must  remain  a  disciplined 
force.  You  know  as  well  as  I  do  that  soldiers 
are  helpless  without  their  officers.  I  ask  you 
to  remain  faithful  to  your  officers  and  to 
have  confidence  in  them,  just  as  we  have 
confidence  in  them.  Return  quietly  to  your 
barracks  and  come  here  at  the  first  call  when 
you  may  be  required." 

"  We  are  ready,"  answered  the  Preo- 
brajensky  Guards.  "  Show  us  the  way." 

"  The  old  authority  is  incapable  of  leading 
Russia  in  the  right  way,"  was  the  answer. 
"Our  first  task  is  to  establish  a  new  authority 
in  which  we  could  all  believe  and  trust,  and 
which  would  be  able  to  save  and  magnify  our 
mother  Russia." 

In  the  same  way,  Rodzianko  greeted  the 
officers  and  men  of  the  Grenadier  Guards  and 
the  troopers  of  the  Household  Cavalry. 


P.  N.  MILYUKOFF 


THE  DAY  OF  DECISION          59 

In  one  way  or  another,  much  effective 
missionary  work  was  done  among  the  soldiers 
that  day.  Milyukoff  visited  the  barracks  of 
the  First  Reserve  Regiment  and  addressed 
the  men,  while  Kerensky  visited  Mikhailovsky 
Artillery  College  with  a  similar  purpose. 

Most  of  the  insurgent  troops  were  quite 
ready  to  accept  the  profession  of  faith  made 
by  the  Duma.  When  one  delegation  arrived, 
however,  and  asked  point-blank  what  the 
attitude  of  the  assembly  was,  Rodzianko 
made  the  following  significant  statement : 

"  The  present  critical  moment  is  marked  by 
the  passing  of  the  old  authority  and  the  coming 
of  the  new.  In  accomplishing  this,  the  Duma 
is  taking  an  active  part,  but  before  everything 
it  is  necessary  to  have  order  and  quiet. " 

This  injunction,  it  is  worth  emphasizing, 
was  the  burden  of  every  utterance  that  went 
out  from  the  men  in  authority  during  those 
turbulent  days.  As  a  symbol  of  that  order, 
the  Preobrajenskys  took  up  their  station  in 
the  Duma  and  became  the  watch-dogs  of  the 
legislative  halls. 

This  revel  of  Revolution  was  very  fine  and 
stirring,  but  it  could  not  be  maintained  with- 
out some  definite  and  organized  control. 
The  Duma  went  into  executive  session,  and  it 


60       THE  REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 


was  decided  to  establish  a  Provisional  Govern- 
ment. Before  the  final  vote  was  taken,  how- 
ever, Rodzianko  received  an  invitation  by 
telephone  to  attend  a  meeting  of  the  Council 
of  Ministers  at  the  Marie  Palace,  where  the 
Council  of  Empire — the  upper  body  of  the 
Duma — held  its  sessions. 

Rodzianko  proceeded  thither,  safely 
traversing  the  entire  city  under  a  guard  of 
the  Duma  troops  in  armoured  cars.  He  found 
all  the  Ministers  assembled,  and  also  the 
Grand  Duke  Michael,  brother  of  the  Czar. 
Rodzianko  informed  them  that  the  Duma, 
acting  in  accordance  with  the  nation,  had 
decided  to  constitute  a  Provisional  Govern- 
ment, as  they  saw  no  other  way  of  re- 
establishing order  in  the  Capital,  of  saving  the 
country  from  anarchy,  and  of  enabling  Russia 
to  continue  the  war  to  a  victorious  finish. 

The  majority,  if  not  all  of  the  Ministers, 
appeared  to  be  willing  to  surrender,  and 
seemed  disposed  to  agree  to  the  appointment 
of  the  Grand  Duke  Michael  as  Regent.  But 
General  Beliaeff,  Minister  of  War,  declared 
that  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  violate  his 
oath  as  a  soldier,  and  announced  his  deter- 
mination to  continue  the  struggle  until  he 
received  orders  to  the  contrary  from  the  Czar. 


THE  DAY  OF  DECISION          61 

After  Rodzianko's  return  to  the  Duma, 
the  House  unanimously  voted  the  motion 
creating  the  Provisional  Government.  Orders 
were  then  given  for  the  arrest  of  the  members 
of  the  old  Government,  but  when  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  Duma  reached  the  Marie 
Palace  they  found  that  the  birds  of  prey  had 
flown  and  were  hiding  in  the  Prefect's  Palace. 

Meanwhile,  upwards  of  a  hundred  officers 
had  come  to  offer  their  services  to  the  Duma, 
and  had  been  placed  in  command  of  battalions 
and  companies  which  had  joined  the  national 
cause.  Captain  Karauloff,  a  Cossack  Deputy, 
took  command  of  the  troops  at  the  Duma, 
while  another  Deputy,  Colonel  Engelhart,  a 
Guardsman,  who  had  discharged  important 
Staff  offices  during  the  war,  was  appointed 
Commandant  of  Petrograd. 

Rodzianko  at  once  formed  what  was  called 
the  Executive  Committee  of  the  Duma, 
which  became  the  nucleus  of  a  Provisional 
Government.  It  included  Rodzianko,  Prince 
Lvoff,  who  had  come  up  from  Moscow  to  help, 
Kerensky,  the  Social  Labour  Deputy,  destined 
to  loom  up  henceforth  as  the  dominant  man 
of  that  kindling  hour,  Milyukoff,  Nekrasoff, 
Konovaloff,  Dmitryukoff,  Cheidze,  Shulgin, 
Schidlovski,  Karauloff,  and  Rjevski. 


62       THE  REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 

The  Committee  immediately  issued  this 
proclamation  : 

"  The  Provisional  Committee  of  members 
of  the  Imperial  Duma  finds  itself  compelled, 
by  the  onerous  circumstances  of  internal 
chaos,  resulting  in  the  measures  taken  by  the 
old  Government,  to  take  in  hand  the  re- 
establishment  of  State  and  public  order. 

"  Fully  appreciating  the  responsibility  it 
assumed,  the  Committee  feels  confident  that 
the  people  and  Army  will  help  it  in  the 
difficult  task  of  creating  a  new  Government 
capable  of  meeting  the  wishes  of  the  nation 
and  deserving  its  confidence." 

This  was  followed  up  by  a  second  proclama- 
tion urging  law  and  order.  It  read  : 

"  The  Provisional  Committee  of  the  Imperial 
Duma  appeals  to  the  inhabitants  of  Petrograd, 
in  the  common  interest,  to  spare  public  and 
State  institutions  and  services,  such  as  tele- 
graphs, waterworks,  electric  power  stations, 
tramways,  and  Government  offices.  Simi- 
larly, it  confides  to  the  protection  of  the 
citizens  all  mills  and  factories  working  for 
munitions  or  for  general  requirements.  It 
should  be  borne  in  mind  that  damage  to,  or 
destruction  of,  institutions  causes  enormous 
harm  to  the  Empire  and  to  the  inhabi- 


THE  DAY  OF  DECISION          63 

tants,  inasmuch  as  all  alike  need  water,  light, 
etc. 

"  Likewise,  it  is  inadmissible  that  there 
should  be  any  harm  done  to  the  lives  and 
property  of  private  persons.  The  spilling  of 
blood,  and  the  plundering  of  property,  will 
remain  a  blur  on  the  conscience  of  the  person 
resorting  to  such  acts  of  violence,  and  may 
also  cause  untold  privations  to  the  inhabitants 
of  the  city." 

The  effect  of  these  proclamations,  with 
their  injunction  for  restraint  and  reconstruc- 
tion, was  admirable.  While  a  few  soldiers 
were  able  to  obtain  vodka  and  became 
intoxicated  (and  this  vodka,  by  the  way,  had 
been  mobilized  by  Protopopoff  for  the  express 
purpose  of  inflaming  the  insurrection),  these 
excesses  were  the  exception  and  not  the  rule. 
It  cannot  be  too  strongly  stated  that,  con- 
sidering the  extraordinary  provocation,  the 
behaviour  of  the  average  Russian  citizen  in 
these  hours  of  frenzy  is  almost  without 
parallel  in  the  whole  story  of  popular  uprising. 
The  Duma  continued  to  be  the  Mecca  of  all 
efforts,  and,  as  the  day  waned,  soldiers  and 
students  began  to  bring  in  prisoners.  The 
combing  out  of  reaction  yielded  a  big  bag. 
But  there  was  no  gloating.  The  triumph  was 


64       THE  REBIRTH   OF  RUSSIA 


tempered  with  a  rude  mercy,  for  few  of  the 
ancient  despoilers  resisted. 

At  midnight  a  forlorn-looking  man  in  a  fur 
coat  spoke  to  an  armed  civilian  outside  the 
Duma. 

"  Are  you  an  officer  ?  "  he  asked. 

"  Yes,"  was  the  reply. 

"  Then  take  me  to  the  Committee  of  the 
Duma,"  responded  the  stranger.  "  I  am 
Protopopoff,  late  Minister  of  the  Interior. 
I  surrender  myself  voluntarily." 

Well  might  the  people  have  said,  "  Ven- 
geance is  mine,"  and  taken  it  relentlessly,  but 
they  merely  thrust  him  into  a  wing  of  the 
Duma  under  a  guard. 

That  night  the  Nevsky  was  illuminated 
from  end  to  end  by  powerful  searchlights 
placed  on  the  Admiralty  steeple.  These  bril- 
liant arrows  of  light  pointed  the  path  of  the 
new  day  that  had  come  for  Russia. 

So  ended  the  crowded  Monday  of  March  12. 
Revolution  was  no  longer  in  question ;  it 
was  achieved  and  the  army  in  Petrograd  had 
made  it  possible.  But  what  of  the  armed 
host  which  even  then  might  be  on  its  way  with 
the  Czar  ?  He  was  still  Emperor  in  name. 
Petrograd' s  dreams  that  night  were  hideous 
with  the  fear  of  bloody  civil  war. 


CHAPTER   IV 

The  Birth  of  a  Nation 


THE  fear  of  civil  war  was  groundless. 
Every  regiment  that  trooped  into  town 
enrolled  under  the  red  flag.    Tuesday, 
the  13th,  became  Freedom's  lucky  day. 

But  the  fight  of  Petrograd  was  not  yet 
entirely  won.  The  city  was  still  a  sporadic 
battlefield,  and  the  police-hunt  continued  with 
unremitting  zeal  and  hatred.  The  stupid 
minions  of  Protopopoff  had  received  their 
orders  to  remain  at  their  stations  on  the  roofs 
and  to  keep  them  at  any  hazard.  Most  of 
them  kept  on  firing  without  having  the  in- 
telligence to  submit  to  the  inevitable,  and  the 
result  was  that  thousands  were  wiped  out. 
The  remainder  escaped  either  in  civilian 
clothes  or  in  the  uniform  of  soldiers,  which 
they  acquired  by  methods  best  known  to 
themselves. 

One  stronghold  of  the  old  Government 
remained  untaken.  It  was  the  huge  Ad- 
miralty building,  which  stood  at  one  end  of  the 

65  E 


66       THE  REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 

Nevsky.  Here,  under  the  direction  of  General 
Khabaloff,  reaction  made  its  last  stand. 
Field  and  machine  guns  were  disposed  in  the 
huge  courtyard,  and  detachments  of  troops 
of  all  arms  took  up  their  stations.  The  revolu- 
tionary soldiers  began  a  siege  which  continued 
with  hot  firing  on  both  sides  all  day  and 
night. 

On  Tuesday  morning  a  letter  was  sent  to 
General  Admiral  Grigorovitch,  the  Naval 
Minister,  stating  that  if  the  Admiralty  was  not 
surrendered  within  half  an  hour  it  would  be 
immediately  destroyed  by  heavy  fire  from  the 
big  guns  of  the  fortress  of  Peter  and  Paul. 
The  Minister  realized  that  the  destruction  of 
this  building  would  entail  the  loss  of  its 
valuable  records,  so,  by  arrangement  with 
General  Khabaloff,  the  building  was  evacuated 
and  the  troops  surrendered.  The  latter,  how- 
ever, immediately  joined  their  colleagues  and 
became  recruits  of  the  red  brotherhood. 

On  the  door  of  the  Admiralty  was  posted 
this  notice  :  "  Under  the  protection  of  the 
State  Duma."  This  became  the  seal  that  was 
fast  hardening  on  every  sign  of  the  tottering 
regime.  The  whole  of  Petrograd  was  now  in 
the  hands  of  the  Revolution. 

The  Duma  remained  the  storm  centre  of 


THE  BIRTH  OF  A  NATION       67 

historic  events.  It  was  still  a  babel  of 
tongues ;  a  litter  of  food,  arms,  and  impedi- 
menta. Every  delegation  of  troops  and  work- 
men brought  in  some  sort  of  supply.  Dispute 
and  controversy  raged  in  a  perfect  maelstrom. 
Buffets  for  feeding  the  soldiers  had  suddenly 
sprung  up  and  every  conceivable  kind  of 
Committee  was  named.  Could  coherency 
emerge  from  this  blatant  confusion  ?  Some- 
how it  did. 

The  food  problem  naturally  engaged  atten- 
tion at  once,  because  hunger  could  not  be 
appeased  by  freedom.  A  Committee  on  pro- 
visions was  named,  and  the  vast  stores  of 
flour  secreted  by  Protopopoff  and  the  rest  of 
the  old  Government  were  seized.  Before 
twenty-four  hours  had  passed,  a  rude  transport 
of  supplies  had  been  established  as  the  result 
of  an  earnest  appeal  telegraphed  to  towns  and 
villages  throughout  the  country,  urging  the 
farmers  to  bring  in  their  grain  and  flour  and 
sell  them  to  the  agents  of  the  Zemstvos,  in 
order  that  the  armies  and  the  metropolis 
might  be  fed. 

In  Petrograd  all  the  restaurants  had  been 
closed  for  three  days,  and,  by  one  of  the  many 
ironies  that  marked  the  Revolution,  the 
wealthier  classes  were  thus  unable  to  obtain 


68       THE  REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 

food  except  in  those  cases  where  there  were 
ample  reserve  supplies.  The  poorer  classes 
fared  much  better.  Once  released  from  the 
grip  of  the  police,  the  smaller  shopkeepers  met 
the  moment  with  commendable  decency.  Not 
being  compelled  to  pay  graft  to  the  avaricious 
middleman  or  the  still  more  goldthirsty  police, 
they  at  once  reduced  their  prices. 

There  were  many  examples  of  whole-hearted 
generosity  by  the  ordinary  people.  One  tea- 
shop  displayed  a  notice  on  its  window  that 
voiced  the  feelings  of  many  small  merchants. 
It  was  ungrammatical,  badly  spelt  and  written 
in  an  uncouth  hand,  but  it  showed  the  right 
spirit.  Here  it  is  : 

"  Fellow-citizens  !  In  honour  of  the  great 
day  of  freedom  I  bid  you  all  welcome.  Come 
inside  and  eat  and  drink  to  your  heart's 
content." 

The  owner  of  the  shop,  wearing  a  red  shirt — 
for  red  had  become  the  prevailing  colour  of 
fashion — himself  greeted  his  guests  and  dis- 
tributed food  and  unlimited  quantities  of  tea. 

The  bagging  of  prisoners  went  on.  Sturmer 
was  taken  at  his  lunch  table  at  the  English 
Club — which,  by  the  way,  did  not  have  a 
single  English  member — and  hurried  across  the 
river  to  the  fortress  of  Peter  and  Paul,  where 


THE  BIRTH   OF  A  NATION       69 

he  was  soon  joined  by  Pitirim,  the  Metro- 
politan of  the  Church,  and  Kurloff.  A  few 
hours  later  the  aged  Goremykin,  who  had  so 
long  persisted  in  remaining  in  power,  blind 
and  deaf  to  the  dictates  of  the  time,  was  taken. 
Another  arrest  of  great  importance  was  that  of 
Dubrovin,  the  infamous  leader  of  the  "  Black 
Hundred." 

The  arrest  of  the  archtraitor  Sukhomlinoff 
created  one  of  the  many  sensational  episodes 
that  crowded  thick  and  fast  upon  this  day  of 
days.  He  was  found  in  the  apartment  of  a 
friend  and  dragged  in  full  uniform  to  the 
Duma.  The  restraint  which  had  marked  the 
taking  of  most  of  the  oppressors  vanished  at 
the  sight  of  the  betrayer  of  his  country. 
There  was  a  rush  to  rend  him.  Kerensky 
heard  the  uproar,  and,  placing  himself  before 
the  shuddering  and  cowering  figure,  said 
dramatically  : 

"  Every  man  in  Russia  is  now  to  have  a 
fair  trial.  I  will  be  responsible  for  Sukhom- 
linoff. If  you  kill  him  you  must  kill  me 
first." 

It  was  the  first  enunciation  of  the  new  rule 
of  justice,  and  it  prevailed.  Sukhomlinoff  was 
stripped  of  his  epaulets  and  led  off  to  join  his 
colleagues  of  the  perverted  conspiracy  in  the 


70       THE  REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 


dungeon  of  the  old  fortress,  whose  guns  even 
then  were  sounding  the  requiem  of  the 
monarchical  power. 

Every  hour  now  brought  fresh  and  strong 
addition  to  the  forces  of  Revolution.  One 
of  the  most  notable  was  the  famous  command 
known  as  the  Sailors  of  the  Guard,  under  the 
command  of  the  Grand  Duke  Cyril,  who  came 
in  person,  with  his  officers,  and  assured  the 
Duma  that  the  historic  corps  would  be  loyal 
to  the  new  order.  Addressing  Rodzianko,  the 
Grand  Duke  said  with  emotion  : 

"  I  have  the  honour  to  appear  before  your 
Excellency  and  to  place  myself  at  your  dis- 
posal. In  common  with  our  nation  I  desire 
the  welfare  of  Russia.  This  morning  I  as- 
sembled my  men,  and  explained  to  them  the 
significance  of  present  events,  and  I  can  now 
say  that  the  whole  Naval  Guard  Corps  is  at 
the  entire  disposal  of  the  Imperial  Duma." 

Amid  much  cheering,  Rodzianko  said  : 

"  The  words  of  the  Grand  Duke  have  given 
me  much  pleasure.  I  am  confident  that  the 
Naval  Guards,  like  all  the  rest  of  our  forces, 
will  help  us  to  vanquish  our  foe." 

Subsequently  the  whole  Corps  mustered  at 
the  Duma,  and,  led  by  the  Grand  Duke  and  his 
officers,  marched  past,  saluting  Rodzianko. 


THE  BIRTH   OF  A  NATION       71 


The  entire  General  Staff  College,  numbering 
three  hundred  and  fifty  officers,  joined  the 
new  Government.  All  the  Cossacks  and  other 
units  also  proclaimed  their  allegiance. 

As  actual  battle  subsided  in  the  streets  a 
new  conflict  arose  within  the  walls  of  the 
Duma.  The  old  Tauris  Palace  now  housed  an 
unrest  far  more  dangerous  than  all  the  con- 
fusion that  the  stirring  days  had  brought 
about.  A  bitter  controversy  over  the  form  of 
Government  developed. 

During  the  two  days  in  which  the  old  order 
was  overthrown,  the  Council  of  Labour,  which 
had  been  born  with  the  Revolution,  had 
steadily  grown  in  size  and  authority.  It 
expressed  the  bitter  class  interests  of  the  city, 
and  was  the  one  group  that  now  thought 
only  of  itself  and  its  desires  in  the  midst  of 
the  Great  Awakening.  It  drew  to  its  ranks 
various  representatives  of  the  army,  and  now 
became  the  Council  of  Workmen's  and 
Soldiers'  Delegates.  This  self-constituted 
assembly,  whose  members,  it  must  be  ad- 
mitted, had  large  and  significant  part  in 
making  the  Revolution  possible,  because  the 
first  sign  of  organization  had  come  from  the 
Labourites,  was  now  in  full  and  flaming 
swing  in  the  Finance  Chamber  of  the  Duma. 


72       THE   REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 


Every  rabid  Socialist  and  Radical  had  his 
innings  of  speech  and  demanded  an  un- 
restrained and  social  Republic  at  once. 

The  great  body  of  sentiment  in  the  Duma, 
headed  by  Lvoff,  Rodzianko,  and  Milyukoff, 
still  had  the  ideal  of  a  Constitutional  Govern- 
ment. Cheidze,  the  Socialist,  and  Kerensky 
formed  the  link  between  the  two  bodies.  The 
Labour  group  insisted  upon  their  very  extreme 
demands.  Their  power  was  constantly 
increased  by  the  arrival  of  troops  from  the 
country,  who  came  at  once  under  the  control 
of  the  Radicals.  Now  began  the  real  struggle 
between  the  Social  Democrats  on  the  one 
hand  and  the  Executive  Committee  of  the 
Duma  on  the  other.  Each  side  began  to 
issue  manifestos  to  the  people,  and  a  dual 
government  seemed  at  hand. 

The  announcements  of  the  Duma  were 
sane,  sober,  and  constructive,  in  the  same 
key  as  the  first  two  proclamations  of  the 
Executive  Committee.  The  earlier  appeals 
of  the  Council  were  inclined  to  be  high  and 
dignified  in  purpose,  as  the  following  pro- 
clamation attests  : 

"  To  the  Soldiers  : 

"  Soldiers !  The  people  of  Russia  thank 
you  for  your  revolt  in  the  cause  of  freedom. 


THE   BIRTH  OF  A  NATION       73 


"  Eternal  memory  to  those  who  have 
fallen ! 

"  Soldiers,  some  of  you  still  hesitate  to  join 
the  revolt  of  your  and  our  comrades. 

"  Soldiers,  remember  your  weary  lives  in 
the  villages,  in  the  factories,  in  the  work- 
shops, where  the  Government  suffocated  and 
oppressed  you.  Join  the  people,  and  the 
people  will  give  you  and  your  families  a  new 
and  free  life  and  happiness. 

"  Soldiers,  if  you  are  driven  from  your 
barracks,  go  to  the  Duma — there  you  will 
find  comrades  whose  joys  and  sorrows  you 
will  share. 

"  Soldiers,  do  not  shoot  at  random  in  the 
streets.  On  the  roofs  of  houses  and  in 
private  flats  the  remainder  of  the  police  force 
is  hidden,  the  '  Black  Hundred '  and  other 
vagabonds.  Try  and  get  them  out  by  sharp  - 
shooting  or  correct  attack. 

"  Soldiers,  keep  order  everywhere.  Form 
companies  and  take  charge  of  all  military 
matters  which  concern  the  defeat  of  the 
enemy. 

"  Soldiers,  do  not  let  the  hooligans  molest 
peaceful  citizens,  do  not  permit  shops  to  be 
looted,  nor  private  flats — that  must  not  be 
done. 


74       THE  REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 

"  For  all  information  and  orders,  apply  to 
the  Duma,  where  there  will  always  be  found 
the  Military  Commission  of  the  Town  of 
Petrograd. 

"  Be  firm  and  unbending  in  your  decision  to 
fight  to  death  for  freedom. 

"  Better  death  than  that  the  enemy  should 
triumph.  Victims,  your  service  and  your 
honour  will  never  be  forgotten  by  Russia. 
Long  live  freedom  !  " 

But  as  the  strength  of  the  Council  grew,  its 
utterances  became  bolder — even  seditious. 
The  Social  Democrats  had  the  upper  hand 
and  they  set  about  to  democratize  the  army. 
A  characteristic  manifesto,  scattered  broad- 
cast among  the  troops,  contained  these  dis- 
quieting commands : 

"  (i)  The  orders  of  the  Executive  Com- 
mittee must  be  obeyed,  saving  only  on  those 
occasions  when  they  shall  contravene  the 
orders  and  regulations  of  the  Council  of 
Workmen's  and  Soldiers'  Delegates. 

"  (2)  In  private  life,  standing  to  atten- 
tion and  compulsory  saluting  off  duty  is 
abolished. 

"  (3)  In  like  manner  is  abolished  the 
addressing  of  officers  as  '  Your  Excellency,' 
1  Your  Honour/  which  shall  be  replaced  by 


THE  BIRTH  OF  A  NATION       75 

the    address   of     '  Gospodin    General '    (Mr. 
General). 

"  (4)  Uncivil  conduct  towards  soldiers  of 
all  military  ranks,  and  the  addressing  of 
them  in  private  by  the  word  '  Thou '  is 
forbidden.  In  all  cases  of  misunderstanding 
between  officers  and  soldiers,  the  latter  shall 
report  to  the  Company  Committee." 

Here  was  the  first  clash  with  the  Execu- 
tive Committee  at  the  Duma,  but  more  dan- 
gerous than  this  was  the  injunction  which 
immediately  began  to  disrupt  the  discipline 
among  the  soldiers.  The  Russian  private, 
always  a  none-too-willing  disciple  of  restraint, 
immediately  broke  loose.  He  showed  an  open 
disrespect  for  his  superiors,  at  once  stopped 
saluting,  and  an  era  of  military  disorganiza- 
tion began  that  promised  ill. 

While  this  social  strife  raged  there  came 
forth  the  first  cheering  evidence  of  the  New 
Freedom.  The  Executive  Committee  of  the 
Duma  issued  the  following  momentous  appeal 
to  the  people  of  Russia  : 

"  Citizens  : 

"  The  Provisional  Executive  Committee  of 
the  Duma,  with  the  aid  and  support  of  the 
garrison  of  the  Capital  and  its  inhabitants, 
have  now  triumphed  over  the  noxious  forces 


76       THE  REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 

of  the  old  regime  in  such  a  measure  as  to  enable 
it  to  proceed  to  the  more  stable  organization  of 
the  executive  power.  With  this  object,  the 
Provisional  Committee  will  name  Ministers  of 
the  first  National  Cabinet,  men  whose  past 
political  and  public  activity  assures  them  the 
confidence  of  the  country. 

"  The  new  Cabinet  will  adopt  the  following 
principles  as  the  bases  of  its  policy : 

"I.  An  immediate  amnesty  for  all  political 
and  religious  offences,  including  terrorists' 
acts,  military  revolts,  and  agrarian  crimes. 

"II.  Freedom  of  speech,  of  the  press,  of 
association  and  labour  organization,  and 
the  freedom  to  strike,  with  an  extension 
of  these  liberties  to  officials  and  troops,  in 
so  far  as  military  and  technical  conditions 
permit. 

"  III.  The  abolition  of  social,  religious,  and 
national  restrictions. 

"  IV.  Immediate  preparations  for  the 
summoning  of  a  Constituent  Assembly, 
which,  with  universal  suffrage  as  a  basis, 
shall  establish  the  Governmental  regime  and 
the  Constitution  of  the  country. 

"  V.  The  substitution  for  the  police  of  a 
national  militia,  with  elective  heads  and 
subject  to  the  self-government  bodies. 


THE  BIRTH  OF  A  NATION       77 

"VI.  Communal  elections  to  be  carried  out 
on  the  basis  of  universal  suffrage. 

"VII.  The  troops  that  have  taken  part  in 
the  revolutionary  movement  shall  not  be  dis- 
armed, but  they  are  not  to  leave  Petrograd. 

"VIII.  While  severe  military  discipline 
must  be  maintained  on  active  service,  all 
restrictions  upon  soldiers  in  the  enjoyment  of 
social  rights  granted  to  other  citizens  are  to 
be  abolished." 

Up  to  this  time,  the  whole  action  of  the 
Revolution  had  been  confined  to  Petrograd. 
It  was  a  world  of  revolt  all  its  own.  No  news 
of  these  epoch-making  happenings  had,  as 
yet,  reached  the  outside,  because,  at  the  first 
sign  of  revolt  the  old  Government  had  stopped 
all  telegraphic  communication.  So  far  as  the 
rest  of  the  world  was  concerned,  Russia  was 
dumb. 

Meanwhile,  Moscow  had  proclaimed  itself 
on  the  side  of  the  Duma,  and  all  the  troops 
there  had  come  over  to  the  Revolution. 
The  police,  acting  under  instructions  of  Proto- 
popoff,  had  placed  themselves  in  readiness  for 
the  revolt,  but  they  were  soon  dug  out  and 
sent  to  the  Front,  and  with  very  little  blood- 
shed, and  the  city  became  normal.  Coinci- 
dent with  this  reassuring  news  came  com- 


78       THE  REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 

munications  from  Generals  Russky  and 
Brusiloff,  stating  that  the  armies  under  their 
command  had  accepted  the  new  regime  and 
could  be  counted  on. 

Everything  seemed  too  good  to  be  true. 
The  actual  Revolution  had  been  achieved  with 
such  slight  loss  and  effort  that  it  was  like  a 
dream. 

That  dream  was  now  to  be  rudely  disturbed 
because  the  differences  between  the  Duma 
and  the  Council  of  Workmen's  and  Soldiers' 
Delegates  became  acute.  The  Council  re- 
newed its  request  for  a  Red  Republic,  and 
flooded  the  city  with  seditious  literature. 
It  forgot  the  war,  the  uncertainties  of  the 
troubled  hour,  everything  except  its  own  selfish 
demands. 

The  Duma  still  persisted  in  its  ideal  of  a 
Constitutional  Monarchy.  Its  attitude  was 
best  expressed  by  a  cablegram  sent  the  day 
before  to  the  Czar  by  the  Reform  Group 
in  the  Council  of  the  Empire,  which  read 
as  follows : 

"  The  maintenance  of  this  old  Government 
in  office  is  tantamount  to  the  complete  over- 
throw of  law  and  order,  involving  defeat  on 
the  battlefield,  the  end  of  dynasty,  and  the 
greatest  misfortunes  for  Russia. 


THE  BIRTH   OF  A  NATION       79 


"We  consider  that  the  only  means  of 
salvation  lies  in  a  complete  and  final  rupture 
with  the  past,  the  immediate  convocation  of 
Parliament,  and  the  summoning  of  a  person 
enjoying  the  confidence  of  the  nation,  who 
shall  form  a  new  Cabinet  capable  of  governing 
the  country  in  full  accord  with  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  nation." 

The  issue  between  Moderates  and  Extre- 
mists became  sharply  defined,  and  a  Revo- 
lution inside  a  Revolution  developed  that 
threatened  the  whole  new-found  deliverance. 

Kerensky  now  stood  revealed  as  the  great 
Pacificator.  Though  bound  to  Radicalism  by 
every  tie  of  birth  and  sentiment,  his  larger 
patriotism  overcame  all  else.  His  oratory 
curbed  the  incendiaries.  The  Council  of 
Workmen's  and  Soldiers'  Delegates  withdrew 
its  opposition  to  the  Duma  for  the  moment 
at  least,  and  the  work  of  reconstruction  went 
on.  The  proclamation  of  the  Executive 
Committee  enunciating  the  new  order  was 
the  result. 

The  curb  on  the  Radicals  was  short-lived, 
and  again  a  heated  and  acrimonious  dis- 
cussion ensued.  Incidental  to  all  the  wrangle 
about  the  new  form  of  Government  was  the 
squabble  over  the  disposition  of  the  Czar. 


8o       THE  REBIRTH   OF  RUSSIA 

He  was  like  a  piece  of  furniture  that  had 
suddenly  ceased  to  be  useful  or  ornamental, 
and  had  to  be  done  away  with.  But  how  ? 
The  Social  Democrats  shrieked  for  his  life ; 
the  Moderates  pleaded  for  the  Czarevitch. 
Many  failed  to  remember  that  Nicholas  was 
still  Emperor,  and  to  millions  throughout 
Russia  the  now  despised  name  remained  part 
of  every  prayer.  He  had  not  shown  his  hand. 


CHAPTER  V 

The  Twilight  of  the  Gods 


WHILE  the  Duma  rocked  with  frenzied 
debate,  there  was  written  in  the  quiet 
of  an  obscure  Russian  town  one  of 
the  supreme  chapters  in  the  story  of  Russian 
emancipation.  It  recorded  an  event  that  will 
stand  out  with  epic  significance,  no  matter 
whatever  sensations  the  Great  War  may 
produce.  It  was  the  Czar's  final  ordeal,  and, 
like  other  occasions  of  far-flung  and  permanent 
interest,  had  a  simple,  almost  humble  setting. 
But  the  tremendous  importance  of  the  hour 
made  it  one  of  the  historic  spots  of  all  time. 
In  that  aloof  moment,  far  from  all  the  glamour 
and  glitter  of  Royal  Court,  the  Emperor 
reaped  the  harvest  of  the  long  years  of  his 
mistaken  rule. 

During  those  stirring  days  when  Petrograd 
was  in  revolution,  the  Czar  had  been  at  the 
Front,  sent  there  because  of  the  near  con- 
summation of  the  plot  of  the  reactionaries  to 

provoke   an   uprising.    That   storm,  as   you 

81  r 


82       THE   REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 

have  seen,  overwhelmed  the  provoker,  but  it 
took  several  days  before  it  beat  about  the 
head  of  the  most  spectacular  victim  of  it  all. 

Nicholas  had  ignored  Rodzianko's  first  tele- 
gram, and  this  omission  cost  him  his  crown. 
Had  he  acted  wisely  and  promptly  he  could 
not  only  have  firmly  re-established  himself 
upon  the  throne,  but  in  the  hearts  of  his 
subjects.  But  the  delay,  hesitancy,  and  in- 
decision which  had  always  characterized  him 
now  marked  him  for  destruction. 

History  was  repeating  itself  with  Nicholas. 
On  another  epochal  day  in  his  life — that 
memorable  May  the  loth  in  1906  when  the 
first  Duma  assembled — he  faced  a  great  oppor- 
tunity for  vital  and  compelling  leadership. 
But  he  met  it  with  high-sounding  platitudes 
and  empty  promises.  Then  he  was  sur- 
rounded by  all  the  hollow  pomp  and  shallow 
brilliancy  of  a  time-serving  Court ;  now  he 
stood  alone  with  his  destiny,  and  it  spelled 
the  end  of  power. 

When  he  finally  made  answer  to  Rodzi- 
anko's second  appeal,  it  was  with  the  an- 
nouncement that  he  was  sending  an  army  to 
crush  Petrograd,  and  that  he  was  coming  in 
person  to  be  in  at  the  death  of  what  seemed 
to  be  just  one  more  futile  effort  for  freedom. 


THE  TWILIGHT  OF  THE  GODS  83 

He  was  destined  to  witness  the  failure  of  that 
project,  for  fate  had  singled  him  out  for  her 
own,  and  from  that  moment  pursued  him 
relentlessly. 

The  Czar  had  started  back  to  Tsarskoe 
Selo,  his  palace  just  outside  Petrograd,  and 
had  reached  Bologoi,  a  small  station,  when 
the  imperial  train  came  to  a  sudden  stop. 
The  tracks  ahead  had  been  pulled  up  by  some 
revolutionary  workmen.  It  was  the  first 
sign  of  the  larger  barrier  that  an  avenging 
nation  was  rearing  in  his  path.  He  returned 
to  Pskoff — General  Russky's  headquarters — 
and  there  awaited  his  doom. 

The  ill  tidings — that  is,  ill  for  him — had 
travelled  faster  than  he.  He  summoned 
General  Russky  to  his  presence,  and  learned 
for  the  first  time  of  the  sweep  of  the  revolt. 
It  dazed  and  saddened  him.  He  became  silent 
and  retired  to  his  carriage  in  the  royal  train. 

At  two  o'clock  the  next  morning  he  sent 
for  General  Russky,  and,  with  the  manner  of 
making  a  great  surrender,  said  to  him  : 

"  I  have  decided  to  give  way  and  grant  my 
people  a  responsible  Ministry.  What  is  your 
opinion  ?  " 

As  a  matter  of  fact  the  Czar  had  already 
written  out  the  manifesto,  and  it  was  signed 


84       THE   REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 

and  sealed  at  the  table  of  the  royal  com- 
partment. 

In  that  cold  grey  morning  hour  he  believed 
sincerely  that  he  was  submitting  to  the 
popular  will.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  he  had 
long  since  passed  the  time  when  he  could 
indulge  in  condescension. 

"  If  you  want  my  frank  opinion,  your 
Majesty,"  replied  General  Russky,  "  your 
manifesto  is  too  late.  I  suggest,  however,  that 
we  get  in  touch  with  Rodzianko." 

The  Czar  went  back  to  bed,  and  General 
Russky  called  up  Petrograd  and  conversed  for 
two  hours  with  the  President  of  the  Duma. 
It  was  probably  one  of  the  most  momentous 
conversations  that  the  telephone  has  ever 
transmitted.  Rodzianko  told  the  General 
of  the  chain  of  events  that  had  converted 
Petrograd  from  a  police-ridden  and  cowed 
community  into  a  free  and  triumphant 
municipality.  He  impressed  the  fact  that 
the  Czar  must  abdicate  ;  that  it  was  the  only 
chance  to  save  his  life. 

When  Russky  returned  to  the  imperial 
train  he  found  his  royal  master  dishevelled 
and  discouraged.  He  had  not  slept  a  wink. 
He  at  once  communicated  to  him  the  result  of 
his  conversation  with  Rodzianko. 


A.  E.  GUTCHKOFF 


THE  TWILIGHT  OF  THE  GODS  85 


"  Do  my  other  Generals  know  of  this  ?  " 
asked  the  Emperor,  still  clutching  at  a  last 
hope. 

"  Yes,  your  Majesty,  they  not  only  know, 
but  concur  in  the  feeling  that  an  abdication  is 
necessary,"  was  the  answer. 

"  Then  send  for  Rodzianko,"  commanded 
the  Czar,  and  he  set  about  preparing  the 
form  of  abdication. 

Rodzianko  could  not  leave  the  helm  of  the 
Duma,  so  Gutchkoff  and  Shulgin,  a  Conser- 
vative Deputy,  came  instead.  Their  train 
was  delayed.  The  long  grey  winter  afternoon 
dragged  on  while  the  Czar  of  All  the  Russias 
fretted  and  pulled  nervously  at  his  moustache. 
The  ruler  who  had  kept  two  hundred  millions 
of  people  waiting  now  waited  with  eager  but 
sad  impatience  for  the  coming  of  two  civilians. 

General  Russky  had  left  word  that  the 
two  representatives  of  the  Duma  be  brought 
to  him  first,  but  through  some  mistake  they 
were  taken  at  once  to  the  royal  train. 

They  found  the  Emperor  in  a  dimly  lit 
carriage.  He  was  pale,  nervous,  and  care- 
worn. The  real  facts  of  this  noteworthy 
occasion  do  not  disclose  an  heroic  renuncia- 
tion. Save  for  one  faithful  attendant,  Count 
Fredericks,  the  Czar  of  All  the  Russias  was 


86       THE   REBIRTH   OF  RUSSIA 

alone.  He  did  the  only  thing  that  was  left 
for  him  to  do. 

"  Tell  me  the  truth/'  he  said. 

"  All  the  troops  in  Petrograd  are  on  our 
side/'  replied  Gutchkoff.  "It  is  useless  to 
send  more  regiments.  They  all  go  over  to 
our  side  as  soon  as  they  reach  the  city." 

"  I  know  it,"  replied  the  Czar.  After  a 
pause  he  continued  :  "  What  do  you  want  me 
to  do  ?  " 

"  Your  Majesty  must  abdicate  in  favour  of 
the  Heir  Apparent,  under  the  Regency  of  Grand 
Duke  Michael  Alexandrovitch .  Such  is  the  will 
of  the  new  Government  we  are  forming  under 
Prince  Lvoff,"  was  Gutchkoff' s  command. 

"  I  cannot  part  with  my  boy,"  spoke  the 
monarch,  with  the  only  emotion  that  the 
scene  had  evoked.  "  I  shall  hand  the  Throne 
to  my  brother." 

He  who  had  been  a  godhead  looked  help- 
lessly around.  Then,  speaking  in  the  most 
matter-of-fact  way,  he  said  : 

"  Have  you  a  sheet  of  paper  ?  " 

A  blank  page  was  produced,  and  with  a 
fountain  pen,  loaned  by  Gutchkoff,  was  written 
the  manifesto  that  signed  away  the  most 
complete  power  that  any  modern  monarch 
had  known. 


THE  TWILIGHT  OF  THE  GODS   87 

The  full  text  of  the  Magna  Charta  of  the 
Russian  people  was  as  follows  : 

"  By  the  Grace  of  God,  We,  Nicholas  II., 
Emperor  of  All  the  Russias,  Czar  of  Poland, 
Grand  Duke  of  Finland,  etc.,  to  all  our 
faithful  subjects  be  it  known  : 

"  In  the  days  of  a  great  struggle  against  a 
foreign  enemy,  who  has  been  endeavouring  for 
three  years  to  enslave  our  country,  it  pleased 
God  to  send  Russia  a  further  painful  trial. 

"  Internal  troubles  threatened  to  have  a 
fatal  effect  on  the  further  progress  of  this 
obstinate  war.  The  destinies  of  Russia,  the 
honour  of  her  heroic  Army,  the  happiness  of 
the  people,  and  the  whole  future  of  our 
beloved  country  demand  that  the  war  should 
be  conducted  at  all  costs  to  a  victorious  end. 

"  The  cruel  enemy  is  making  his  last  efforts, 
and  the  moment  is  near  when  our  valiant 
Army,  in  concert  with  our  glorious  Allies, 
will  finally  overthrow  the  enemy. 

"  In  these  decisive  days  in  the  life  of 
Russia  we  have  thought  that  we  owed  to  our 
people  the  close  union  and  organization  of  all 
its  forces  for  the  realization  of  rapid  victory  ; 
for  which  reason,  in  agreement  with  the 
Imperial  Duma,  we  have  recognized  that  it  is 
for  the  good  of  the  country  that  we  should 


THE  REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 


abdicate  the  Crown  of  the  Russian  State  and 
lay  down  the  Supreme  Power. 

"  Not  wishing  to  separate  ourselves  from  our 
beloved  son,  we  bequeath  our  heritage  to  our 
brother,  the  Grand  Duke  Michael  Alexandro- 
vitch,  with  our  blessing  for  the  future  of  the 
Throne  of  the  Russian  State. 

"  We  bequeath  it  to  our  brother  to  govern 
in  full  union  with  the  national  representa- 
tives sitting  in  the  Legislative  Institutions, 
and  to  take  his  inviolable  oath  to  them  in  the 
name  of  our  well-beloved  country. 

"  We  call  upon  all  faithful  sons  of  our 
native  land  to  fulfil  their  sacred  and  patriotic 
duty  in  obeying  the  Czar  at  the  painful 
moment  of  national  trials  and  to  aid  him, 
together  with  the  representatives  of  the 
nation,  to  conduct  the  Russian  State  in  the 
way  of  prosperity  and  glory. 

"  May  God  help  Russia  !  " 

He  bowed  his  head  for  a  few  moments,  took 
the  pen,  and,  apparently  without  a  trace  of 
feeling,  affixed  his  signature.  When  he  rose 
from  the  chair  the  Czar  of  All  the  Russias 
had  become  plain  Nicholas  Romanoff. 

It  was  indeed  the  twilight  of  the  imperial 
gods. 


CHAPTER   VI 

The  Dawn  of  Freedom 

PETROGRAD  remained  in  ignorance  of 
the  Czar's   abdication    for   twenty-four 
hours.    The  capital  was  so  absorbed  in 
the  hectic  discussion  over  the  new  form  of 
government  that  for  a  moment  it  lost  sight  of 
the  man  who  had  been  the  root  of  all  their 
troubles  and  who  at  that  moment  was  passing 
into  eclipse. 

All  interest  was  now  political,  and  the 
centre  of  the  stage  once  more  became  those 
talk-ridden  halls  of  the  Duma  where  Moderate 
and  Extremist  were  locked  in  what  seemed 
to  be  a  hopeless  struggle.  To  the  disin- 
terested observer  this  controversy  seemed 
almost  ridiculous.  In  less  than  a  week  the 
most  oppressed  people  in  the  world  had 
shaken  off  the  oppressor,  and  yet  here  they 
were  fighting  each  other  verbally  with  the 
same  animosity  and  bitterness  that  they  had 
hurled  upon  the  tyrant  a  few  days  before. 

All  through  that  fateful  Wednesday  night, 
89 


go       THE  REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 

when  the  Czar  was  wrestling  with  his  destiny 
down  at  Pskoff,  the  Duma  remained  in  con- 
tinuous and  acrimonious  session. 

When  Thursday  broke,  it  found  the  city 
quiet  and  many  of  the  shops  open.  The 
trams,  however,  had  not  yet  resumed  opera- 
tions. Men,  women,  and  children  wore  red 
ribbons,  and  even  the  harness  of  the  horses 
was  decorated  with  crimson  rosettes.  When 
the  trams  did  begin  to  run  again  a  few  days 
later  they  flew  red  flags  from  the  roofs. 

The  whole  community  was  now  divided  into 
two  hostile  camps.  One  of  them,  dominated 
by  the  Duma,  advocated  a  Constitutional 
Government  under  the  Regency  of  the  Grand 
Duke  Michael ;  the  other,  inflamed  by  the 
Council  of  Workmen's  and  Soldiers'  Dele- 
gates, cried  for  a  Red  Republic. 

The  Labourites  still  flooded  the  town  with 
their  seditious  literature,  while  the  Duma 
daily  put  forth  its  plea  for  constructive 
harmony.  Freedom,  gained  at  the  cost  of 
blood  and  agony,  was  being  dashed  back  and 
forth  like  a  tennis-ball  on  a  hotly  contested 
court.  Even  compromise  seemed  remote. 

But  those  masterful  men  who  had  made  the 
Revolution  possible  were  guiding  the  new 
craft  of  State  through  the  troubled  waters. 


M.  E.  TERESHTCHENKO 


THE  DAWN  OF  FREEDOM        91 

While  leaders  like  Gutchkoff  and  Lvoff  were 
manning  the  walls  of  the  Duma,  their  col- 
leagues were  fashioning  the  new  Ministry. 

On  Thursday  afternoon  came  a  great 
moment.  It  was  when  Milyukoff  announced 
the  members  of  the  Provisional  Government 
in  a  speech  which  took  rank  with  that  other 
historic  utterance  when  he  laid  bare  the 
infamy  of  the  old  Cabinet  and  proved  the 
treason  of  the  men  responsible  for  national 
safety.  But  on  this  occasion  he  had  a 
different  tale  to  tell.  It  was  no  longer  the 
sensational  revelation  of  illicit  relationship. 
He  now  had  a  message  of  cheer  and  confidence 
for  his  freed  people. 

The  Cabinet  which  was  revealed  for  the 
first  time  was  composed  of  the  following  : 

Prince  George  Lvoff,  Premier  and  Minister 
of  the  Interior ;  Paul  Milyukoff,  Minister 
of  Foreign  Affairs ;  Alexander  Gutchkoff, 
Minister  of  \YTar  and  Marine ;  Alexander 
Kerensky,  Minister  of  Justice ;  Michael 
Tereshtchenko,  Minister  of  Finance  ;  Andrew 
Shingareff,  Minister  of  Agriculture ;  Alex- 
ander Konovaloff,  Minister  of  Commerce  and 
Industries  ;  Nicholas  Nekrasoff,  Minister  of 
Ways  and  Communication  ;  Alexander  Manui- 
loff,  Minister  of  Public  Instruction ;  Ivan 


92       THE   REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 

Godneff ,  State  Comptroller  ;  Vladimir  Lvoff, 
Over  Procurator  of  the  Holy  Synod  ;  Theodore 
Rodicheff,  Minister  of  Finnish  Affairs. 

It  was  an  impressive  roster  of  achievement, 
for  every  member  had  been  tested  in  the  fires 
and  had  borne  the  ordeal  of  the  battle  for 
liberty.  After  he  had  revealed  the  names  of 
his  colleagues,  Milyukoff  continued  : 

"  I  hear  voices  ask  :  '  Who  chose  you  ?  ' 
No  one  chose  us,  for  if  we  had  waited  for 
election  by  the  people  we  could  not  wrench 
the  power  from  the  hands  of  the  enemy. 
While  we  quarrel  about  who  shall  be  elected 
the  foe  would  have  time  to  reorganize  and 
reconquer  both  you  and  us.  We  were 
elected  by  the  Russian  Revolution.  It  so 
happened  at  the  very  moment  when  delay 
was  impossible,  a  handful  of  people  was  found 
whose  political  past  was  well  known  to  the 
people,  and  against  whom  not  a  shadow  of 
those  suspicions  which  brought  the  old  Ad- 
ministration to  its  fall  could  be  entertained, 
but  we  cannot  forget  that  we  ourselves  quite 
recently  defended  the  principle  of  responsi- 
bility of  the  Government  to  the  electors. 

"  We  shall  not  retain  power  for  a  single 
moment  when  we  are  told  by  the  elected 
representatives  of  the  people  that  they  wish 


THE  DAWN   OF  FREEDOM        93 

to  see  others,  more  deserving  of  their  confi- 
dence, in  our  place.  Believe  me,  Gentlemen, 
the  Government  will  fight  in  these  coming 
days  not  for  the  sake  of  power.  To  be  in 
power  is  neither  a  reward  nor  a  pleasure,  but 
a  merit  and  a  sacrifice.  And  as  soon  as  we 
are  told  that  this  sacrifice  is  no  longer  needed 
by  the  people  we  shall  give  up  our  place  with 
gratitude  for  the  opportunity  which  has  been 
accorded  us.  But  we  will  not  relinquish 
power  now  when  it  is  needed  to  consolidate 
the  people's  triumph,  and  when,  should  the 
power  fall  from  our  hands,  it  would  only  be 
seized  by  the  foe." 

Milyukoff  also  repeated  a  statement  that 
he  had  made  on  other  occasions  during  the 
past  few  days — namely,  "The  despot  who  has 
brought  Russia  to  the  brink  of  ruin  must 
either  abdicate  of  his  own  free  will  or  be 
deposed.  The  power  will  pass  to  a  Regent, 
the  Grand  Duke  Michael  Alexandrovitch, 
and  Alexis  will  be  the  successor  to  the 
Throne." 

Now,  the  extraordinary  feature  of  this 
speech  was  that,  while  Milyukoff  was  making 
it,  the  Czar  had  abdicated  and  was  on  his  way 
to  Tsarskoe  Selo.  The  news  did  not  reach 
Petrograd,  however,  until  that  night,  when 


94       THE  REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 

cheering  crowds  read  it  in  flaming  letters  on 
the  walls. 

Milyukoff  now  became  the  storm  centre. 
His  declaration  about  a  Regent,  which  he  was 
forced  to  admit  later  was  purely  his  personal 
opinion,  stirred  up  a  hornet's  nest.  In  the 
swift  change  from  servile  dependency  to 
rampant  liberty  the  pendulum  had  swung 
completely  round.  A  few  weeks  before,  the 
thought  of  a  Regent  would  have  been  hailed 
by  the  multitude  as  a  blessing  from  Heaven  ; 
now  it  meant  tyranny  and  oppression. 

The  Council  of  Workmen's  and  Soldiers' 
Delegates  swept  completely  out  of  bounds.  It 
seemed  to  lose  all  restraint. 

"  We  want  a  Republic  and  we  must  have 
it  at  once,"  was  the  cry. 

Again  the  magnetic  Kerensky  saved  the 
hour.  Leaping  upon  a  table  in  the  middle 
of  the  hall  he  shouted  : 

"  Comrades,  I  have  been  made  Minister 
of  Justice,  but  in  entering  the  Provisional 
Government  I  remain  a  Republican.  In  my 
work  I  must  lean  for  help  upon  the  will  of  the 
people.  May  I  trust  you  as  I  trust  myself  ?  " 

At  this  there  was  tremendous  cheering  and 
cries  of  "  We  believe  you,  comrade." 

Then  he  continued  : 


THE  DAWN   OF  FREEDOM        95 

"  I  cannot  live  without  the  people,  and  if 
ever  you  begin  to  doubt  me,  kill  me.  I 
declare  to  the  Provisional  Government  that 
I  am  a  representative  of  the  Democracy,  and 
that  the  Government  must  especially  take 
into  account  the  views  I  shall  uphold  as 
representing  the  people,  by  whose  efforts  the 
old  Government  was  overthrown.  Com- 
rades, time  does  not  wait.  I  call  you  to 
organization  and  discipline.  I  ask  you  to 
support  us,  your  representatives,  who  are 
prepared  to  die  for  the  people,  and  have  given 
the  people  their  whole  life." 

His  fervour  swept  all  before  it.  The  Demo- 
crats voted  to  support  the  Provisional  Govern- 
ment until  the  end  of  the  war.  One  peril 
to  the  new  order  was  gone. 

But  even  the  Conservatives  realized  that 
the  atmosphere  must  be  cleared  of  all  royal 
taint,  and  thus  came  the  final  scene  in  the 
tragedy  of  the  Romanoffs.  A  Committee, 
headed  by  Prince  Lvoff,  and  including  Keren- 
sky,  went  to  seek  the  Grand  Duke  Michael, 
and  found  him  in  the  apartments  of  Prince 
Putiatin.  He  still  believed  himself  the 
destined  Regent  of  Russia. 

"  We  are  the  bearers  of  the  will  of  the 
people,"  said  Kerensky. 


96       THE  REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 

"  What  is  that  will  ?  "  asked  the  Grand 
Duke,  unconscious  of  the  bolt  about  to  be 
delivered. 

"  That  you  renounce  the  Regency  and 
relegate  all  plenary  powers  to  the  Provisional 
Government  until  a  Constituent  Assembly, 
elected  on  a  basis  of  universal  and  equal 
suffrage,  decides  upon  the  form  of  govern- 
ment," was  the  reply. 

Michael  looked  dazed.  It  was  the  death  blow 
to  the  old  regime.  Like  Nicholas,  at  Pskoff,  he 
nodded  his  head  in  humble  and  silent  assent. 
The  following  declaration  from  the  Throne 
was  then  dictated  by  Prince  Lvoff : 

"  A  heavy  task  has  been  entrusted  to  me  by 
the  will  of  my  brother,  who  has  given  me  the 
Imperial  Throne  at  a  time  of  unprecedented 
war  and  of  domestic  strife. 

"  Animated  by  the  same  feelings  as  the 
entire  nation — namely,  that  the  welfare  of  the 
country  overshadows  all  other  interests — I  am 
firmly  resolved  to  accept  the  Supreme  Power 
only  if  this  should  be  the  desire  of  our  great 
people,  who  must,  by  means  of  a  plebiscite, 
through  their  representatives  in  the  Con- 
stituent Assembly,  establish  the  form  of 
government  and  the  new  fundamental  laws 
of  the  Russian  State. 


THE  DAWN   OF  FREEDOM        97 

"  Invoking  God's  blessing,  I  therefore  re- 
quest all  citizens  of  Russia  to  obey  the 
Provisional  Government  set  up  on  the 
initiative  of  the  Duma  and  invested  with 
plenary  powers,  until,  within  as  short  a  time 
as  possible,  the  Constituent  Assembly,  elected 
on  a  basis  of  equal  universal  and  secret 
suffrage,  shall  express  the  will  of  the  nation 
regarding  the  form  of  government  to  be 
adopted." 

Michael  signed  it,  and  when  the  ink  of  the 
signature  was  dry  Russian  royalty  had  passed 
into  the  shadow.  In  that  moment  the  simple 
apartment,  through  whose  windows  came  the 
sound  of  "  The  Marseillaise,"  sung  by  joyous 
crowds,  took  rank  with  Runnymede  and 
Independence  Hall. 

Having  temporarily  bridged  the  chasm  that 
threatened  all  manner  of  civil  disruption,  the 
Ministry  proceeded  to  the  colossal  task  of 
gathering  up  the  frenzied  and  scattered 
threads  of  government. 

Its  first  important  manifesto  was  typical  of 
the  vision  of  the  men  who  framed  it.  It  was 
the  herald  of  the  New  Russia,  and  it  not 
only  rang  with  conviction  and  purpose, 
but  was  a  battle-cry  to  construction.  Here 

it  is  in  full : 

G 


98       THE  REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 

"  Citizens ! 

"  The  great  work  has  been  accomplished. 
By  a  powerful  stroke  the  Russian  people  has 
overthrown  the  old  regime.  A  New  Russia  is 
born.  This  coup  d'ttat  has  set  the  keystone 
upon  the  long  years  of  struggle.  Under  the 
pressure  of  the  awakened  forces  the  Act  of 
October  30th,  1905,  promised  Russia  con- 
stitutional liberties  which,  however,  were 
not  put  into  effect. 

"  The  First  Duma,  the  mouthpiece  of  the 
wishes  of  the  nation,  was  dissolved.  The 
Second  Duma  met  with  a  similar  fate,  and 
the  Government,  being  powerless  to  crush 
the  national  will,  decided  by  the  Act  of 
June  i6th,  1907,  to  withdraw  from  the  people 
part  of  the  legislative  rights  which  had  been 
promised  them.  During  the  ten  succeeding 
years  the  Government  withdrew  from  the 
people  one  after  another  all  the  rights  they  had 
won.  The  country  was  again  thrown  into 
the  abyss  of  absolute  rule  and  administrative 
arbitrariness. 

"  All  attempts  to  make  the  voice  of  Reason 
heard  were  in  vain,  and  the  great  world 
struggle  into  which  our  country  was  plunged 
found  it  face  to  face  with  the  moral  decadence 
of  a  power  not  united  with  the  people,  a 


THE  DAWN   OF  FREEDOM        99 


power  indifferent  to  the  destinies  of  the 
country  and  steeped  in  vices  and  infamy. 
The  heroic  efforts  of  the  Army  crushed  under 
the  cruel  weight  of  internal  disorganization, 
the  appeals  of  the  national  representatives 
who  united  in  view  of  the  national  danger, 
were  powerless  to  lead  the  ex-Emperor  and 
his  Government  into  the  path  of  union  with 
the  people. 

"  Thus  when  Russia,  by  the  illegal  and 
disastrous  acts  of  her  governors,  was  faced 
with  the  greatest  disasters,  the  people  had 
to  take  the  power  into  their  own  hands.  The 
unanimous  revolutionary  spirit  of  the  people, 
fully  realizing  the  seriousness  of  the  moment, 
and  the  firm  will  of  the  Duma,  established  a 
Provisional  Government,  which  considers  it  its 
sacred  duty  to  realize  the  national  desires  and 
to  lead  the  country  into  the  bright  path  of 
free  civil  organization. 

"  The  Government  believes  that  the  lofty 
spirit  of  patriotism,  which  the  people  have 
shown  in  the  struggle  against  the  old  regime, 
will  also  animate  our  gallant  soldiers  in  the 
fields  of  battle.  On  its  side,  the  Government 
will  do  its  utmost  to  provide  the  Army  with 
all  that  is  necessary  to  bring  the  war  to  a 
victorious  conclusion. 


ioo      THE  REBIRTH   OF  RUSSIA 


"  The  Government  will  faithfully  observe 
all  the  alliances  uniting  us  to  other  Powers 
and  all  agreements  made  in  the  past.  Whilst 
taking  the  measures  indispensable  for  the 
defence  of  the  country  against  the  foreign 
enemy,  the  Government  will  consider  it  its 
first  duty  to  grant  the  people  every  facility  for 
expressing  its  will  as  to  the  political  regime, 
and  will  convoke  as  soon  as  possible  a  Con- 
stituent Assembly  on  the  basis  of  universal 
suffrage,  at  the  same  time  assuring  the 
gallant  defenders  of  the  country  their  share 
in  the  Parliamentary  elections.  The  Con- 
stituent Assembly  will  also  issue  fundamental 
laws  guaranteeing  the  country  the  immutable 
rights  of  equality  and  liberty. 

"  Conscious  of  all  the  burden  of  political 
oppression  weighing  on  the  country  and 
hindering  the  free  creative  forces  of  the  people 
in  a  year  of  heavy  trials,  the  Provisional 
Government  deems  it  necessary,  even  before 
the  convocation  of  the  Constituent  Assembly, 
to  announce  immediately  to  the  country  its 
set  principles  assuring  political  liberty  and 
equality,  in  order  to  enable  all  citizens  to 
develop  their  strength  in  creative  work  for  the 
good  of  the  country. 

"The  Government  will  be  careful  to  lay 


THE   DAWN   OF  FREEDOM      101 


down  principles  assuring  the  participation  of 
all  citizens  in  the  communal  elections,  which 
will  be  held  on  a  basis  of  universal  suffrage. 

"  In  the  moment  of  national  liberation  the 
whole  country  remembers  with  deep  gratitude 
the  services  of  those  who  fell  in  the  struggle 
for  their  political  and  religious  ideas,  to  the 
vengeance  of  the  old  regime,  and  the  Pro- 
visional Government  will  joyfully  facilitate 
the  return  from  exile  and  prison  of  all  who  are 
suffering  for  the  good  of  their  country.  In 
solving  these  problems  the  Provisional  Govern- 
ment believes  that  it  will  be  carrying  out  the 
national  will,  and  that  the  whole  people  will 
support  it  in  its  efforts  to  secure  the  happiness 
of  Russia." 

Now  that  the  reins  of  government  had  been 
transferred  to  accredited  hands,  the  Duma 
adjourned  after  a  career  that  will  take  unique 
place  in  the  history  of  all  legislative  pro- 
cedure. Without  this  body,  which  for  years 
had  been  regarded  as  a  Parliamentary  joke, 
the  Revolution  would  not  only  have  been 
improbable  but  impossible.  The  Council  of 
Workmen's  and  Soldiers'  Delegates  remained 
in  session  and  their  deliberations  soon  became 
fraught  with  dire  consequence  for  Russia. 

The  new  Ministry  resumed  work.    So  com- 


102      THE  REBIRTH   OF  RUSSIA 

plete  had  been  the  revolutionary  overthrow 
that  practically  every  public  office  of  any 
consequence  was  denuded.  The  students  of 
democracy,  therefore,  were  called  upon  to 
give  practical  demonstration  of  their  theories. 
Most  of  them,  however — men  like  Tere- 
shtchenko  and  Konovaloff — came  to  their 
posts  from  experience  in  the  conduct  of  large 
business  affairs.  In  the  same  way  Prince 
Lvoff,  who  had  been  head  of  the  Zemstvos 
and  associated  with  the  War  Industry  Com- 
mittee, was  a  trained  administrator.  There 
was  a  peculiar  and  poetic  justice  in  his  assump- 
tion of  the  portfolio  of  the  Interior  because 
the  man  he  succeeded,  Protopopoff ,  had  been 
his  special  oppressor,  and  had  blocked  his 
public-spirited  work  at  every  turn. 

The  first  idea  of  the  new  Government  was 
to  get  in  close  touch  with  the  great  mass  of  the 
people  and  the  army  in  the  field.  Gutchkoff 
went  off  to  visit  the  various  Fronts  and  made 
speeches  up  and  down  the  line,  urging  the 
men  to  observe  discipline  and  be  loyal  to  the 
New  Russia.  General  Alexeeff,  the  brilliant 
Chief  of  Staff — a  sergeant-son  like  Sir  William 
Robertson — became  Commander-in-Chief  of 
all  the  Forces  in  the  field.  Here  was  another 
amazing  example  of  the  concession  at  once 


THE  DAWN   OF  FREEDOM      103 


made  by  the  Government  to  the  popular 
clamour  against  royalty.  In  the  early  days 
of  the  Revolution  the  Grand  Duke  Nicholas, 
who  had  the  confidence  of  all  the  troops,  was 
designated  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Im- 
perial Forces.  It  was  an  admirable  choice, 
but  his  blue  blood  operated  against  him,  and 
he  was  succeeded  by  the  commoner  who  had 
risen  from  the  ranks. 

That  the  new  regime  meant  business  was 
evident  by  the  swift  and  efficient  reorganiza- 
tion of  many  of  the  departments,  notably  that 
of  Commerce  and  Industry.  Within  a  week 
after  the  Cabinet  had  been  named  Konovaloff 
had  effected  an  organization,  and  within  four 
weeks  after  the  last  shot  of  revolt  was  fired  he 
had  made  a  contract  with  a  large  American 
corporation  for  an  immense  quantity  of 
electric  equipment  for  the  Government. 

No  revelation  of  the  aftermath  of  the  Revo- 
lution was  more  characteristic  of  the  mood 
of  the  people  than  the  utter  and  complete 
contempt  shown  for  the  Czar.  The  humblest 
labourer,  who  a  short  time  before  mentioned 
the  royal  name  in  hushed  and  reverent 
whisper,  now  referred  to  him  as  "  Nicholas," 
and  spat  as  he  spoke. 

Freedom  indeed  had  come  to  Russia. 


CHAPTER   VII 

Petrograd  in  Transition 

PETROGRAD  was  the  real  battle-ground 
of  the  Revolution,  and  with  the  cessa- 
tion of  actual   hostilities  it   became   a 
throbbing    theatre    of    emotion.     Not    since 
Paris  raved  in  the  first  delirium  of  democracy 
has  any  world  capital  witnessed  such  scenes. 
All  rank  was  levelled  before  the  flood-tide  of 
rejoicing  that  swept  the  city. 

I  was  with  the  Russian  people  while  they 
were  making  appraisal  of  their  new  assets. 
Like  prisoners  long  immured  in  the  dark  and 
suddenly  hurled  into  the  sunshine,  the  people 
blinked  in  the  strange  light  of  their  un- 
familiar emancipation.  The  one-time  baili- 
wick of  the  Czar  was  a  study  in  scarlet, 
like  an  American  city  during  National  Con- 
vention. The  Nevsky  Prospect,  once  the 
Street  of  Sacrifice,  was  now  the  Highway  of 
Happiness. 

Never   was  there  such  glad  reunion ;    it 

was  like  a  meeting  of  lost  tribes  after  much 

104 


PETROGRAD   IN  TRANSITION  105 

wandering  in  the  wilderness.  Exiles  streamed 
in  from  Siberia  under  the  general  amnesty ; 
Jews  came  forth  from  their  long  restraint,  for 
creed  lines  were  down  ;  delegations  of  troops 
flocked  from  the  Front.  Equality  was  the 
password  that  loosed  every  tongue. 

Over  the  Winter  Palace,  around  which  the 
waves  of  piteous  anguish  had  so  often  surged 
in  vain  appeal,  waved  the  flag  of  Revolu- 
tion. Even  the  imperial  eagles  on  the  huge 
iron  gates — closed  for  ever  on  royalty — were 
swathed  in  red  rags ! 

Ever}/body  talked,  paraded,  had  a  theory 
or  a  programme.  The  voice  of  Russia,  long 
stifled,  was  making  up  for  lost  time.  Freedom 
was  a  new  sensation,  and  the  populace 
revelled  in  it,  proud,  sensitive,  elated — afraid 
that  it  might  disappear  like  a  dream.  The 
town  buzzed  like  a  Babel.  It  was  a  whirlwind 
of  plan  and  project. 

"  Can  order  and  economic  permanency  come 
out  of  this  chaos  ?  "  I  asked  Kerensky. 

"  Certainly,"  he  replied.  "  I  will  tell  you 
why.  Is  not  this  healthy  if  heated  discussion 
which  dissolves  in  the  air  in  harmless  oratory 
better  than  sinister  and  silent  plots  ?  Our 
people  have  just  discovered  that  they  have  a 
voice.  They  are  learning  to  use  it — straining 


106      THE  REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 

it  perhaps  in  the  fear  that  it  might  be  sup- 
pressed before  they  can  say  all  they  want  to 
say.  When  they  learn  that  they  are  free  to 
talk  they  will  subside  and  get  down  to  normal 
life  again." 

I  looked  in  vain  for  a  policeman.  There 
was  no  such  animal.  So  far  as  Petrograd — 
indeed  all  Russia — was  concerned,  the  species 
was  extinct.  Instead  you  saw  an  occasional 
student  or  civilian  with  a  white  brassard  on  his 
sleeve  and  carrying  a  gun — a  militiaman — 
who  represented  law.  But  he  was  not  needed. 

Here  you  got  evidence  of  a  real  popular  rule. 
Authority  by,  and  for,  the  people  was  here. 
The  citizens  had  become  mentors  of  their  own 
conduct — on  honour  as  it  were — and  faithful 
to  the  trust  they  imposed  upon  themselves. 

What  was  happening  in  Petrograd  during 
those  blithe  days  of  April  awakening  was 
being  multiplied  throughout  the  length  and 
breadth  of  that  far-flung  land.  Everywhere 
the  police  had  been  banished  to  the  Front  to 
do  a  man's  work.  Russia  breathed  freely. 

In  the  Capital  you  saw  signs  of  the  price 
paid  for  this  freedom.  Remnants  of  barri- 
cades still  littered  the  streets,  mottling  the 
snow  were  dark  spots  that  spelled  disaster, 
bullet-holes  gaped  from  walls  like  ugly  sockets. 


PETROGRAD   IN  TRANSITION    107 


But  death  and  destruction  were  part  of  the 
hideous  Yesterday.  The  thought  was  of  the 
glad  To-day  with  its  daybreak  of  hope  and  its 
rich  promise  of  a  constructive  To-morrow. 

A  new  Petrograd  stood  revealed.  The  man 
who  had  seen  it  under  the  iron  heel  of  Autocracy 
rubbed  his  eyes.  Privates  passed  Generals 
without  saluting  ;  every  conceivable  kind  of 
incendiary  pamphlet  was  sold  in  the  streets 
and  without  restraint ;  vendors  hawked 
booklets  that  flashed  the  picture  of  Rasputin 
caricatured. 

You  walked  past  the  Winter  Palace  and  you 
saw  knots  of  curious  people  staring  in  at  the 
gardens  or  assembled  under  the  porte-cochere. 
A  month  before  it  would  have  been  worth  a 
civilian's  life  to  loiter,  even  for  a  moment, 
within  a  hundred  yards  of  the  sacred  entrance. 

Order  which  had  vied  with  liberty  as  the 
watchword  of  Revolution  remained,  as  one 
amazing  incident  showed.  It  was  the  great 
public  funeral  of  the  civilian  victims  of  the 
police.  Many  people  who  had  marvelled  at 
the  miracle  of  the  insurrection  ceased  to 
wonder  when  they  saw  those  lurid  obsequies. 

According  to  the  most  conservative  esti- 
mates, about  five  hundred  civilians  were 
killed  during  the  fighting  in  Petrograd.  The 


io8      THE  REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 

total  number  of  casualties  was  less  than  five 
thousand.  A  number  of  the  victims  were 
privately  buried  by  their  families,  but  nearly 
two  hundred  bodies  of  revolutionists  were 
kept  for  the  spectacular  tribute  which  was  to 
give  the  Russian  the  opportunity  of  rendering 
homage  to  his  martyred  dead  and  likewise 
indulging  in  the  characteristic  love  of  cere- 
mony. 

It  was  held  on  a  bleak  April  day,  under 
lowering  grey  skies,  and  in  a  city  ankle-deep 
in  slush.  For  a  week  the  coming  event  was  on 
every  tongue. 

"  But,"  said  the  alarmists,  the  day  before 
the  funeral,  "  the  city  will  pay  dearly  for  the 
show.  These  martyrs  will  have  new  com- 
panions for  their  delayed  last  journey." 

Dire  predictions  of  the  wreaking  of  the 
deferred  vengeance  certain  to  be  inflamed 
and  excited  by  the  sight  of  the  dead,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  possibility  of  a  panic-producing 
attack  on  the  crowd  by  some  secret  police  who 
may  have  survived  the  storm,  rose  up  :  "  Keep 
off  the  streets,"  was  the  warning  to  the 
stranger.  No  one  heeded  it. 

As  in  the  Revolution  itself  the  unexpected 
happened.  With  perfect  discipline  the  million 
marched  and  wept.  A  community,  once 


PETROGRAD   IN  TRANSITION    109 

police-ridden,  and  still  quivering  with  rage  at 
incessant  wrongs,  kept  the  peace  almost 
without  sign  of  authority.  It  augured  well 
for  the  stability  of  the  new  regime. 

On  that  day  fury  yielded  to  tenderness,  and 
you  saw  enacted  the  sentimental  climax  of 
the  epic  of  freedom  that  had  startled  the 
world.  It  was  a  funeral  such  as  no  time  had 
ever  seen  before  or  is  likely  to  witness  again. 
There  was  no  panoply  of  pomp  or  purple,  no 
sombre  trapping  of  woe.  The  brilliant  red 
of  protest  and  passion,  emblem  of  the  new- 
found freedom,  flashed  on  a  thousand  banners, 
shone  from  the  caskets  that  held  the  martyred 
dead,  ran  like  a  flame  up  and  down  the  un- 
ending lines  of  civilians  and  soldiers  that 
tramped  from  dawn  to  dark.  A  hundred 
bands  sobbed  with  Chopin's  Funeral  March  ; 
a  hundred  thousand  voices  gave  "  The  Mar- 
seillaise "  a  thrilling  intensity  that  smote  the 
heart. 

On  the  Field  of  Mars  a  common  grave 
became  the  sanctuary  and  the  symbol  of 
sacrifice.  Around  it  the  nation  mourned  yet 
rejoiced. 

This  unforgettable  spectacle,  with  its  crim- 
son coffins,  its  singing  multitudes,  and  its 
haunting  solemnity,  was  more  than  a  pic- 


no      THE   REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 

turesque  burial.  It  was  one  definite  reason 
why  the  Great  Upheaval  of  a  few  weeks 
before  had  achieved  the  downfall  of  Czardom. 

The  crusading  spirit  that  thrilled  it,  the 
amazing  order  that  pervaded  it,  the  high 
sense  of  dignity  and  reverence  that  well-nigh 
exalted  it,  disclosed  those  larger  forces,  long 
unreckoned  with,  that  had  expanded  a  hunger 
riot  almost  overnight  into  an  uprising  and 
uprooted  a  dynasty. 

Not  a  voice  was  raised  save  in  prayer  or 
chant ;  no  hand  stretched  forth  but  to  serve. 
The  threatened  Commune  became  a  Public 
Confessional  of  serene  sorrow.  Grief,  that 
unfailing  crystallizer  of  character,  had  done 
more  in  a  single  day  to  illume  the  most 
memorable  chapter  of  Russian  history  than 
a  century  of  chroniclers.  The  restraint  that 
had  tempered  wrath  in  the  high  tides  of 
revolt  stood  revealed,  and  with  it  the  supreme 
gifts  of  patience  and  forbearance. 

Petrograd  was  as  safe  as  a  Sunday  School 
Convention.  As  if  emblazoned  on  those 
waving  banners,  shone  the  explanation  why 
the  Revolution  had  been  comparatively  blood- 
less, why  it  had  been  complete,  why  the 
whole  structure  of  the  dawning  Russian 
Republic,  heedless  of  the  social  and  economic 


PETROGRAD   IN  TRANSITION   in 

storms  that  will  inevitably  break  about  it, 
was  secure. 

There  were  other  evidences  of  the  order 
which  seemed  to  be  the  hall-mark  of  the 
Revolution.  Every  bank  was  guarded  by 
soldiers  day  and  night,  and  there  was  an 
armed  guard  in  all  the  hotels.  There  was 
little  or  no  looting.  Stringent  orders  had 
been  issued  for  the  summary  rearrest  of  the 
criminals  who  had  escaped  with  the  general 
dropping  of  prison  bars,  and  most  of  them 
were  returned  to  custody.  Some  persons  who 
were  in  stolen  uniforms  entered  and  ransacked 
a  few  private  houses,  but  they  were  promptly 
caught  and  shot.  As  a  protection  against 
these  raids,  a  Committee  of  Safety  was  formed 
in  every  apartment  house,  and  the  men, 
armed  with  guns  provided  by  the  Provisional 
Government,  took  turns  on  watch  all  night 
long.  Each  man  was  on  duty  for  two  hours. 

A  very  commendable  sort  of  everyday 
justice  prevailed.  For  one  thing,  the  motor- 
cars seized  during  the  Revolution  were 
returned  to  their  owners.  In  cases  where 
damage  had  been  done  to  the  cars  there  was 
prompt  indemnity. 

No  phase  of  those  stirring  days  of  transition 
was  more  impressive  than  the  tone  of  the 


H2      THE  REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 

uncensored  press.  The  newspapers  re- 
appeared after  a  week's  silence,  and  the 
news-dealers  were  almost  overwhelmed  by  the 
populace,  hungry  for  news.  The  whole  tone 
of  the  journals  was  uniformly  patriotic  in 
the  highest  degree.  There  was  a  unanimous 
emphasis  in  pointing  out  the  fact  that  while 
freedom  had  been  obtained  with  slight  sacrifice 
of  life,  enormous  difficulties  lay  in  the  path  of 
the  new  Government.  For  several  weeks, 
even  the  most  radical  sheets  advocated 
counsels  of  prudence  and  moderation.  In- 
deed, never  was  censorship  so  admirably 
applied  as  the  self-imposed  censorship  of  the 
Petrograd  newspapers  in  those  first  weeks  that 
followed  the  Revolution. 

In  that  quick  procession  of  unfolding 
wonders  you  were  surprised  at  nothing.  For 
the  first  time  in  the  long  and  dismal  story  of 
racial  oppression,  the  Jew  held  up  his  head 
proudly,  and  walked  the  streets  erect  and 
unafraid.  Under  that  new  mantle  of  freedom, 
Hebrew  and  Gentile  were  linked  in  the 
common  brotherhood  of  privilege. 

While  the  people  were  still  binding  up  the 
wounds  of  battle,  their  eyes  and  their  souls 
turned  to  the  finer  things.  Under  the  Chair- 
manship of  Maxim  Gorky,  a  Committee  on 


PETROGRAD  IN  TRANSITION    113 

Arts  and  Letters  was  formed  for  the  special 
purpose  of  safeguarding  the  works  of  art. 
Already  the  poet  and  the  dreamer  had  a 
vision  of  a  new  art  and  a  new  literature, 
shot  through  with  the  great  fire  of  freedom. 

One  fly  in  the  ointment  of  all  this  equality 
was  the  let-down  in  discipline  among  the 
soldiers.  Fresh  from  the  British  front  in 
France,  the  conspicuous  indifference  that  the 
private  soldier  showed  to  the  commonest 
courtesy  of  the  army  struck  me  as  little  short 
of  shocking.  I  saw  venerable  Generals,  with 
the  wound  and  service  stripes  of  two  wars  on 
their  sleeves,  hanging  by  the  strap  of  the 
tram-cars  while  every  seat  was  occupied  by 
a  grinning  and  sometimes  jeering  private. 
The  soldier's  adhesion  had  turned  the  scale 
of  the  Revolution  ;  he  knew  it  and  he  was 
capitalizing  his  importance. 

You  did  not  have  to  travel  far  to  know  that 
the  Russian  soldier  in  Petrograd  was  having 
the  time  of  his  life.  With  that  amiable  and 
childlike  simplicity  for  which  he  is  noted,  he 
played  the  new  game  of  freedom  for  all  it  was 
worth.  Under  the  new  order,  soldiers  could 
ride  free  of  charge  on  the  tram-cars  and  on  the 
railways.  Life  now  became  one  constant 
trip  for  the  private.  Troopers  who  had 

H 


ii4      THE   REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 


never  been  on  trains  in  their  lives  until  they 
were  called  to  the  colours  now  began  to  visit 
all  their  friends  and  relatives. 

For  the  ordinary  civilian  travel  became 
a  great  adventure,  and  likewise  a  constant 
hardship  and  inconvenience. 

A  member  of  the  British  Embassy  staff  at 
Petrograd  engaged  and  paid  for  a  coupe  to 
Moscow.  He  was  going  on  official  business, 
and  it  was  most  important  for  him  to  leave 
on  a  certain  night.  When  he  reached  the 
train  he  found  the  compartment  occupied  by 
eight  Russian  soldiers. 

"  I  am  very  sorry  to  disturb  you/'  said  the 
Englishman,  who  spoke  Russian  fluently, 
"  but  this  is  my  coupe  ;  I  am  going  to  Moscow 
on  official  business."  He  showed  his  ticket, 
whereupon  one  of  the  Russians  immediately 
replied  : 

"  It  is  all  right.  We  have  not  the  slightest 
objection  to  your  riding  down  with  us." 

There  was  no  ill-will  or  hostility  in  any  of 
these  performances.  It  was  all  part  of  a 
good-natured  debauch  of  democracy. 

The  situation  in  Petrograd  was  not  without 
its  humour.  The  disdain  for  the  Czar  became 
more  pronounced  every  day.  One  morning 
I  read  in  the  newspapers  that  Citizen  Ivan 


PETROGRAD   IN  TRANSITION  115 

Romanoff  had  solemnly  petitioned  the  Duma 
for  permission  to  change  his  name  to  Ivan 
Republicanitsky.  He  was  determined  that 
his  posterity  should  not  bear  the  hated  label 
of  royalty. 

Before  the  Revolution,  Petrograd  had  been 
a  portrait  gallery  of  the  Royal  Family.  Now 
it  was  alive  with  the  photographs  of  the 
Revolution  makers.  Every  picture  of  the 
Czar  had  been  banned  to  the  garbage  heap  ; 
to  try  to  buy  one  was  arch- treason.  Where 
portraits  of  the  Emperor  could  not  be  re- 
moved— such  as  those  in  the  Chamber  of  the 
Council  of  Empire — they  were  covered  with 
white  crape. 

The  eagle — emblem  of  imperial  power, 
but  likewise  the  symbol  of  American  freedom 
— had  a  hard  time.  His  day  of  trouble  began, 
for  he  was  wrenched  from  every  flag-pole  and 
removed  from  every  arch.  An  American 
manufacturing  firm,  whose  imposing  building 
on  the  Nevsky  was  surmounted  by  a  huge  iron 
eagle,  was  compelled  to  drape  the  proud  bird 
in  the  Stars  and  Stripes  until  only  the  beak 
protruded  from  the  red,  white,  and  blue 
folds. 

Amid  this  carnival  of  equality  were  signs  of 
some  realization  of  economic  responsibility. 


n6      THE  REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 

Nothing  was  more  characteristic  than  the 
Loan  of  Liberty.  Scarcely  had  the  shock  of 
revolution  passed  than  the  cry  rose  up 
among  sober-minded  men  :  "  Let  us  try  to 
pay  our  way  as  much  as  possible."  A  great 
popular  subscription  was  launched  for  a  five 
per  cent  bond  issued  at  85,  and  redeemable 
in  forty  years. 

Petrograd  was  placarded  from  end  to  end 
with  announcements  of  the  loan,  which  were 
also  fastened  to  turrets  and  even  to  the  guns 
of  armoured  cars  that  were  sent  racing 
through  the  streets,  a  reminder  of  the  days  of 
bloody  battle  when  they  were  in  the  thick  of 
the  fighting. 

The  newspapers  carried  full-page  manifestos 
from  the  Provisional  Government  urging  the 
people  to  subscribe.  They  embodied  such  a 
fine  and  patriotic  appeal  that  the  first  one  is 
well  worth  reproducing.  It  read  : 

"  To  you  citizens  of  Great  Emancipated 
Russia  and  to  those  of  you  to  whom  the 
future  of  our  country  is  dear,  we  make 
a  passionate  appeal. 

"  The  powerful  foe  has  forced  his  way  deep 
into  our  territories  ;  he  threatens  to  crush  us 
and  to  return  us  to  the  old  regime  which  is 
now  dead. 


PETROGRAD   IN  TRANSITION    117 

"  Only  the  accumulation  of  all  our  strength 
can  give  us  the  victory  which  we  desire.  To 
save  the  country  and  complete  the  structure  of 
an  Emancipated  Russia  on  a  basis  of  equality 
and  right  the  expenditure  of  many  milliards 
is  necessary.  Our  country  demands  this 
not  as  a  sacrifice  but  as  the  fulfilment  of  a 
duty.  In  subscribing  to  the  new  loan  we  will 
lend  money  to  the  State,  and  by  this  act  we 
will  save  our  freedom  and  our  property  from 
perishing." 

But  all  was  not  merry-making  in  Petro- 
grad's  rejoicing.  Up  through  the  froth  of 
those  hectic  days  poked  the  head  of  Labour, 
shaking  its  locks  at  Capital,  and  inaugurating 
a  reign  of  discontent  that  soon  came  perilously 
near  national  disaster. 

Equality,  like  strong  drink,  went  to  the 
worker's  head.  He  seemed  to  lose  his  whole 
sense  of  proportion.  After  the  fateful 
week  of  fighting,  and  still  another  week 
of  parading,  he  went  back  to  his  shop — 
but  not  to  work.  He  became  an  agitator, 
with  a  string  of  demands  that  staggered 
the  employer. 

He  saw  the  soldiers  dismissing  their  officers 
and  appointing  their  own  superiors  by  popular 
vote,  so  he  said,  "  We  must  do  likewise,  we 


n8      THE  REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 


will  have  no  more  foremen.     Industry  must 
be  democratized  like  the  army/' 

There  was  only  one  result — diminished  out- 
put and  near  demoralization.  Sixty  per 
cent  of  the  munition  plants  of  Russia  are 
in  the  Petrograd  district,  and  the  effect  on 
war  operations  may  be  well  imagined. 

The  situation  went  to  an  extreme  that 
rivalled  the  old  reign  of  reaction.  The  employ- 
ers naturally  expected  requests  for  increased 
wages,  but  the  demands  now  made  were 
almost  beyond  belief.  No  advance  was  less 
than  fifty  per  cent,  while  the  average  was 
from  one  hundred  to  one  hundred  and  fifty. 
In  one  shipyard,  for  example,  the  workers 
insisted  upon  an  increase  of  forty-five  per 
cent  in  all  back  pay  from  the  beginning  of 
the  war,  and  an  advance  of  one  hundred 
per  cent  from  the  first  day  of  the  Revolution. 
In  still  another  industrial  establishment  the 
increase  in  wages  asked  would  have  swollen 
the  annual  expenditure  by  13,000,000  roubles. 
Most  of  the  excessive  demands  were  refused, 
and  the  workers  struck.  During  the  first 
four  weeks  following  the  Revolution  half  the 
mills  in  and  about  Petrograd  were  idle. 

It  was  a  different  strike,  however,  from  the 
historic   walk-out   of   1905,   which   was  the 


PETROGRAD   IN  TRANSITION    119 

prelude  to  a  costly  and  ineffectual  protest 
against  the  iron  despotism.  Now  the  victory 
had  been  won  and  Labour  was  in  the  throes  of 
jubilant  if  exorbitant  celebration. 

With  the  demand  for  increased  wages  came 
its  full  brother — a  demand  for  decrease  in  the 
working  time.  In  some  factories  the  work- 
men went  to  the  well-nigh  incredible  extent 
of  asking  for  a  six-hour  day  with  a  nine-hour 
wage.  Some  workers  blankly  refused  to  work 
more  than  four  hours  per  day.  The  most 
sober-minded  element  of  Labour,  however, 
united  for  a  standard  eight-hour  day. 

The  whole  industrial  world  seemed  up- 
rooted. The  situation  became  so  acute  that 
the  representatives  of  eighty-nine  companies 
of  the  Petrograd  garrison  presented  a  formal 
request  to  the  workmen  to  cease  party  strife 
and  quarrels  with  technical  experts  and 
factory  administrations,  and  to  present  their 
economic  demands  only  through  the  medium 
of  the  arbitration  courts  and  the  Council  of 
Workmen's  and  Soldiers'  Delegates,  and  even 
postpone  the  introduction  of  an  eight-hour 
day  in  the  interests  of  the  Russian  army. 

Thus  a  new  and  dangerous  element  was 
introduced,  namely,  the  interference  of  the 
army  in  public,  political,  and  economic  life. 


120      THE  REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 


So   far    this   interference    was    only  verbal, 
however. 

Out  of  this  interference  came  a  very 
dramatic  episode.  A  group  of  soldiers  went 
to  a  meeting  of  striking  workmen  who  were 
vociferously  clamouring  for  an  eight-hour 
day  and  an  increase  of  one  hundred  per  cent 
in  wages. 

"  Why  are  you  demanding  the  eight-hour 
day  ?  "  asked  the  spokesman  of  the  soldiers, 
every  one  of  whom  wore  the  Cross  of  St. 
George — the  Russian  Victoria  Cross. 

"  Because  eight  hours  is  long  enough  for 
anyone  to  work,"  was  the  reply. 

"  We  work  all  the  time  and  our  lives  are  in 
constant  danger,"  responded  the  soldier. 

"  But  we  must  have  more  money,"  cried 
one  of  the  Socialist  workmen. 

The  spokesman  for  the  soldiers  tore  the 
medals  from  his  breast  and  flung  them  down 
on  the  table,  followed  in  turn  by  every  one  of 
his  colleagues. 

"  These  medals,"  said  the  fighting  man, 
"  represent  sacrifice  and  blood.  Sell  them 
and  get  money.  But  we  must  have  shells." 

This  rebuke  shamed  the  men  to  such  a 
degree  that  hundreds  went  back  to  work  at 
once.  But  they  were  in  the  minority. 


PETROGRAD  IN  TRANSITION    121 


The  extremes  to  which  Labour  went  were 
ludicrous.  Even  the  maidservants  struck. 
They  organized  a  huge  demonstration,  left 
their  saucepans  and  brooms  and  paraded 
the  streets  for  days,  waving  red  flags  and 
shouting  for  increased  wages  and  for  shorter 
hours.  This  picturesque  protest  developed 
many  humorous  incidents.  A  housemaid 
in  the  employ  of  a  well-known  American 
resident  in  Petrograd  served  notice  on  her 
master  that  she  wanted  an  increase  of  fifty 
per  cent  in  wages  and  an  eight-hour  day. 

"  What  do  you  mean  by  an  eight-hour 
day  ?  "  asked  her  employer. 

"  I  am  only  going  to  work  from  eight  until 
eight,"  was  the  reply.  Her  demand  was 
speedily  granted. 

"The  postmen  said  :  "  Five  deliveries  a  day 
are  too  many  for  Petrograd.  Two  are  ample." 
They  permitted  25, 000,000  undelivered  letters 
to  pile  up  at  the  post  offices,  while  175  wagons 
filled  with  parcel  post  packages  stood  un- 
opened at  the  railway  terminals. 

Labour's  zeal  was  its  undoing,  as  the 
following  story  will  show.  In  a  certain  large 
factory  the  men  sent  a  deputation  to  the  em- 
ployer— an  American — with  this  ultimatum  : 

"  We  are  all  now  free  and  equal,  and  we 


122      THE  REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 

demand  not  only  wages,  but  a  share  of  your 
profits.  We  are  as  much  the  owner  of  your 
establishment  as  you  are." 

The  American  was  swift  of  thought  and 
swifter  of  action,  so  he  replied  : 

"  All  right,  I  am  glad  to  share  the  responsi- 
bility of  my  factory  with  you."  Then 
turning  to  his  desk  he  produced  a  pile  of 
papers,  and,  handing  them  over  to  the  spokes- 
man, said  : 

"  Here  are  bills  for  thirty  thousand  roubles, 
due  next  Saturday.  Will  you  be  good  enough 
to  provide  the  money  for  them  ?  " 

The  Delegation  looked  dazed.  When  it 
had  caught  its  breath,  the  leader  spoke  up  : 

"  We  have  no  money  for  bills,  that  is  your 
job." 

"  But  how  about  your  equal  ownership  ? 
It  also  means  equal  responsibility  of  all  kinds," 
queried  the  employer. 

The  argument  was  unanswerable,  and  the 
men  went  back  to  work  with  no  further 
outcry  against  private  ownership. 

The  disorganization  is  best  expressed  by 
the  following  extract  from  a  leading  article 
in  the  "  Russkaya  Volya  "  : 

"  The  present  idleness  is  not  the  result  of 
the  Labour  disturbances  which  were  caused 


PETROGRAD  IN  TRANSITION    123 

by  the  Revolution,  and  which  naturally  took 
the  form  of  pressure  on  employers,  with  the 
object  of  improving  the  conditions  of  the 
workmen.  This  pressure  is  rapidly  develop- 
ing into  an  anti-social,  anti-state,  anti- 
patriotic,  anti-labour  character. 

"  It  would  be  foolish  to  imagine  that  the 
business  can  be  confined  to  words  if  great 
reforms  are  not  shortly  made  in  the  matter  of 
organization.  Too  much  strain  has  been 
accumulated  in  the  atmosphere,  and  too  much 
energy  held  in  check.  It  is  of  the  first 
importance  to  draw  the  attention  of  the 
leaders  of  the  Labour  movement  to  this 
danger.  If  ruin  comes,  as  it  threatens  to  do, 
they  will  not  be  able  to  stand  before  it.  It  is 
essential  that  the  Council  of  Workmen's  and 
Soldiers'  Delegates  should  use  their  weighty 
authority  in  the  matter  of  restoring  order. 
The  Council  must  at  least  exert  as  much 
energy  in  this  matter  as  they  did  in  drawing 
up  their  resolution  on  the  war. 

"  Otherwise,  we  are  threatened  with  ruin, 
which  will  be  made  use  of  by  the  enemies  of 
the  new  Constitution,  and  also  by  the  German 
spies,  so  busy  now  stirring  up  strife.  The 
present  demagogy  is  twice  as  dangerous  as  the 
former,  for  with  the  right  of  free  propaganda, 


124      THE  REBIRTH   OF  RUSSIA 


and  with  public  responsibility  less  restrained, 
any  madman  can  profit  by  liberty  to  carry  out 
his  own  wild  plans." 

Such  was  the  picture  of  Petrograd  in 
transition — a  city  ecstatic  with  equality.  The 
soldiers  were  like  children  on  a  joyous  holi- 
day ;  the  workers  claimed  all  industry  for  their 
own.  Before  the  people  realized  what  was 
happening  they  were  face  to  face  with  a  grave 
crisis. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

Reaction  and  Reconstruction 

THE  Labour  unrest  that  demoralized 
Petrograd  was  merely  one  phase  of  a 
larger  disquiet  which  now  shook  the 
structure  of  the  new  Government  to  its 
foundations.  Before  the  Provisional  Ministry 
had  firmly  grasped  the  full  meaning  of  its 
authority  the  Council  of  Workmen's  and 
Soldiers'  Delegates  let  loose  a  flood  of  dis- 
ruptive demands.  Its  Assembly  Hall  became 
the  forum  of  a  Radicalism  that  began  to  place 
every  possible  difficulty  in  the  path  of  re- 
construction. 

Self-interest,  which  had  been  the  doom  of 
the  deposed  regime,  took  up  its  abode  with 
the  Dissenters.  Forgetful  of  the  fact  that  the 
Great  War  had  made  their  freedom  possible, 
they  took  steps  to  defeat  the  purpose  of  their 
Allies  to  bring  that  war  to  a  successful  end. 
Peace  became  the  burden  of  their  talk. 

With  this  talk  was  linked  the  plea  for  a 

very   dangerous   altruism   expressed   in   the 

125 


126      THE  REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 


slogan,  "  Peace  without  Annexation."  The 
Anarchists  found  it  a  fruitful  subject.  They 
were  led  by  Lenin,  who  had  been  an  exile  in 
Switzerland,  and  had  now  returned  to  his 
native  land.  The  very  fact  that  Germany 
had  permitted  him  to  travel  through  her 
Empire  was  sufficient  argument  that  his 
coming  back  to  Petrograd  was  unfortunate 
to  sav  the  least.  At  first  his  treasonable 

*/ 

plea  for  a  peace  at  any  price  was  received 
with  some  favour  by  the  Extremists,  but  to 
the  everlasting  credit  of  the  best  element  of 
the  Council  he  was  finally  ejected  from  their 
meetings.  He  tried  to  organize  an  anti- 
American  demonstration — for  the  United 
States  had  just  entered  the  war — and  was 
finally  suppressed.  But  not  until  he  had 
planted  pernicious  seed. 

Throughout  Petrograd,  and  more  especially 
in  the  rabid  wing  of  the  Council  of  Workmen's 
and  Soldiers'  Delegates,  men  began  to  ask  : 
"  What  has  Russia  to  do  with  conquest  ? 
Democracy  must  be  generous,  even  extrava- 
gant, with  the  peace  terms."  These  uplifters 
were  quite  oblivious  of  the  fact  that  France — 
one  of  the  most  precious  of  all  democracies — 
was  even  then  under  the  despoiler's  heel ; 
that  the  hearts  and  the  homes  of  millions 


REACTION  £•  RECONSTRUCTION   127 

of  her  people  had  been  ravaged  ;  and  that  vast 
areas  of  her  beloved  land  were  in  the  grip  of  a 
merciless  invader. 

Some  of  the  Socialists  in  the  Council  openly 
advocated  fraternization  between  Russian  and 
German  troops  at  the  Front.  Their  emis- 
saries went  to  the  troops  urging  such  an 
illicit  intercourse.  The  net  result  was  that, 
in  some  instances,  Russian  soldiers  sent  white 
flags  to  their  enemies  for  the  purpose  of  dis- 
cussing the  truce.  It  was  not  only  fatal  to  dis- 
cipline, but  it  curbed  the  whole  fighting  spirit. 

The  Council  clamoured  for  the  publication 
of  the  secret  treaties  of  the  Russian  Govern- 
ment with  their  Allies,  unmindful  of  the 
immense  benefit  to  the  enemy  that  the 
dissemination  of  such  information  might 
bestow.  It  was  during  these  turbulent  days 
that  Milyukoff  incurred  the  hostility  that 
led  to  his  subsequent  retirement  from  the 
capital.  He  not  only  resisted  all  efforts  to 
disclose  the  terms  of  the  treaties,  but  insisted 
upon  a  reaffirmation  of  the  principle  that 
Russia  must  acquire  Constantinople  and  the 
Dardanelles  and  make  them  another  Panama 
Canal.  At  every  turn  he  sought  to  thwart  the 
desires  of  the  Socialists,  whose  sole  idea  was  a 
peace  without  victory. 


128      THE  REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 


All  this  discussion,  which  was  fully  aired 
in  the  public  Press,  had  a  most  disturbing 
effect.  For  one  thing  it  naturally  created 
distrust  and  even  suspicion  among  the  Allies, 
who  at  that  moment  were  spilling  their  best 
blood  on  half  a  dozen  fronts.  It  affected 
the  moral  of  the  Russian  army  to  such 
an  extent  that  Petrograd  became  panic- 
stricken  at  the  fear  of  a  German  advance 
that  would  convert  the  capital  into  another 
Moscow,  but  without  the  penalty  that 
Napoleon  paid  for  that  historic  conflagration. 

The  situation  became  so  alarming  that  the 
Government  felt  called  upon  to  issue  its 
famous  Statement  of  April  gth  on  the  Objects 
of  the  War.  Like  so  many  of  the  documents 
produced  by  that  first  group  of  patriots  it 
was  both  noble  and  eloquent.  It  so  clearly 
sets  forth  the  ideas  of  the  Cabinet,  and  is  at 
the  same  time  such  a  notable  State  Paper, 
that  I  am  reproducing  it  herewith  in  full : 

"  Citizens, 

"  The  Provisionary  Government,  surveying 
the  military  situation  of  Russia,  in  the  name 
of  its  duty  before  country,  has  decided  frankly 
and  openly  to  tell  the  nation  the  truth. 

"  The  late  Government  left  the  work  of 
national  defence  utterly  disorganized.  By 


REACTION  &  RECONSTRUCTION   129 

its  criminal  inactivity  and  inept  measures  it 
has  brought  us  to  the  brink  of  destruction 
in  our  finances,  on  the  questions  of  food  and 
transport,  and  in  the  provisioning  of  the  Army. 
It  has  ruined  the  country  economically. 

"  The  Provisional  Government,  with  the 
lively  and  active  co-operation  of  the  whole 
nation,  is  devoting  all  its  energies  to  the  task 
of  reducing  to  order  the  baleful  heritage  left 
to  it  by  the  old  regime.  But  time  will  not 
wait.  The  blood  of  many  sons  of  the  nation 
has  been  poured  out  without  measure 
during  the  two  and  a  half  years  of  war,  but 
the  country  yet  remains  under  the  pressure 
of  a  powerful  enemy,  who  has  possessed  itself 
of  whole  provinces  of  our  State,  and  now 
threatens  us  with  a  new  and  decisive  on- 
slaught. 

"  The  defence  at  all  cost  of  our  national 
inheritance  and  the  freeing  of  our  country 
from  the  enemy  who  has  invaded  our  frontiers 
— this  is  the  first  insistent  and  real  task  of 
our  soldiers,  the  defending  of  the  nation's 
freedom. 

"  Leaving  the  final  decision  of  all  questions 
connected  with  the  world  war  and  its  con- 
clusions to  the  will  of  the  people,  in  close 
union  with  our  Allies,  the  Provisional  Govern- 


130      THE  REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 

ment  considers  it  to  be  its  right  and  duty 
now  to  declare  that  the  aims  of  emancipated 
Russia  are  not  domination  over  other  nations, 
not  the  niching  from  them  of  their  property, 
not  the  acquisition  of  foreign  territory  by 
force  of  arms,  but  the  consolidation  of  a 
lasting  peace  based  on  the  establishment  of 
nations  within  their  natural  limits.  The 
Russian  people  are  not  striving  to  increase 
their  outward  power  at  the  expense  of  other 
nations,  slavery  and  humiliation  find  no  place 
in  that  aim  to  which  they  devote  their  efforts. 
In  the  name  of  the  highest  principles  of 
justice  they  have  stricken  their  shackles  from 
off  the  Polish  people.  But  the  Russian 
nation  will  not  allow  their  country  to  issue 
from  the  struggle  humiliated  and  with  shat- 
tered strength.  These  principles  are  laid 
down  as  the  foreign  policy  of  the  Provisional 
Government,  conscientiously  fulfilling  the 
national  will,  guarding  the  rights  of  our 
country,  and  fully  observing  the  obligations 
owed  to  our  Allies. 

"  The  Provisional  Government  of  Free 
Russia  has  no  right  to  hide  the  truth  from  the 
people.  The  State  is  in  danger.  We  must 
do  all  in  our  power  to  save  it.  Let  the 
answer  of  the  country  to  the  truth  be  no 


REACTION  6-  RECONSTRUCTION  131 

fruitless  depression,  no  decline  in  our  courage, 
but  a  universal  impulse  to  the  creation  of  a 
single  national  will.  It  will  give  us  new 
strength  for  the  struggle  and  will  lead  us  to 
salvation. 

"  In  the  hour  of  heavy  trial  let  the  whole 
country  find  itself  strength  to  maintain  our 
conquered  freedom  and  devote  itself  to  un- 
ceasing labour  for  the  good  of  emancipated 
Russia.  The  Provisional  Government,  who 
have  taken  a  solemn  oath  to  serve  the  people, 
firmly  believe  that  it,  with  the  general  and 
unanimous  support  of  all  and  every  one,  will 
itself  also  be  able  to  fulfil  its  duty  to  the 
country  until  the  end." 

To  the  great  mass  of  people  in  Petrograd  and 
elsewhere  in  Russia  this  manifesto  brought 
a  sobering  realization  of  the  gravity  of 
conditions.  "  The  State  is  in  danger  "  was  no 
idle  phrase  devised  to  put  the  fear  of  God  into 
the  hearts  of  the  insurgents.  It  was  the  plain 
brutal  truth,  and  it  meant  that  the  enemy 
at  the  frontier  was  no  worse  than  the  enemy 
at  home. 

Instead  of  placating  the  red  element  of  the 
Council  of  Workmen's  and  Soldiers'  Dele- 
gates, this  appeal  only  inflamed  them.  They 
sought  fresh  powers.  Amazing  as  it  may  seem, 


132      THE  REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 

they  now  demanded  that  the  plans  for  all 
military  operations  be  submitted  to  their 
Executive  Committee.  It  meant,  if  carried 
out,  that  every  bit  of  strategy  proposed  by 
the  Generals  in  the  field  would  have  to  be 
debated  over  by  a  group  of  men  whose  only 
contact  with  war  had  been  abuse  of  the 
methods  employed  by  the  Government.  It 
was  monstrous  and  it  was  unreasonable. 

When  the  Duma  met  in  extraordinary 
session  to  celebrate  the  anniversary  of  the 
opening  of  the  first  Russian  Parliament, 
Gutchkoff ,  the  Minister  of  War,  gave  utter- 
ance to  the  indignation  of  the  great  mass  of  the 
people  when  he  made  this  startling  state- 
ment : 

"  We  must  frankly  face  the  fact  that  our 
military  might  is  weakened  and  disintegrated, 
being  affected  by  the  same  disease  as  the 
country — namely,  duality  of  power,  polyarchy , 
anarchy — only  the  malady  is  more  acute.  This 
disease  constitutes  a  mortal  danger  for  the 
State  and  for  the  nation.  It  is  not  too  late  to 
cure  it,  but  not  a  moment  must  be  lost. 

"Those  who,  either  deliberately  or  not 
realizing  what  they  were  doing,  have  cast  into 
our  midst  the  subversive  catchword,  '  Peace 
at  the  front  and  war  in  the  country/  are 


REACTION  &  RECONSTRUCTION  133 

carrying  on  a  propaganda  of  peace  at  any 
price  and  civil  war,  cost  what  it  may.  That 
word  must  be  smothered  by  another,  '  War 
at  the  front  and  peace  within  the  country.' 

"  Some  time  ago  the  country  realized  that 
our  country  was  in  danger.  Since  then  we 
have  gone  a  step  further,  for  our  country  is 
on  the  edge  of  an  abyss." 

Still  the  Dissenters  persisted  in  their  policy 
of  antagonism  and  interference.  They  tried 
in  every  possible  way  to  distract  the  Govern- 
ment, and  more  particularly  the  Ministry  of 
War  and  Marine,  from  instituting  an  adequate 
state  of  National  Defence.  The  inevitable 
happened.  Gutchkoff  resigned  his  post.  In 
making  announcement  of  his  retirement  he 
gave  the  following  illuminating  reason  : 

"  In  view  of  the  conditions  in  which  the 
power  of  the  Government  is  placed,  especially 
the  authority  of  the  Ministry  of  War  in  relation 
to  the  Army  and  Navy,  conditions  which  I  am 
powerless  to  alter,  and  which  threaten  to 
have  consequences  fatal  to  the  defence  of  the 
liberty  and  even  the  existence  of  Russia,  I  can 
no  longer  exercise  the  functions  of  Minister  of 
War  and  Marine  and  share  the  responsibility 
for  the  grave  sin  that  is  being  committed 
against  the  country." 


134      THE  REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 

It  was  the  first  break  in  the  Cabinet  that 
was  to  be  the  bulwark  of  the  New  Liberty. 
The  crack  had  come.  Would  the  whole 
fabric  of  the  Provisional  Government  totter  ? 
Sober-minded  people  trembled  for  the  future 
of  the  infant  Democracy. 

Hardly  had  the  sensation  produced  by 
Gutchkoffs  resignation  subsided,  when  the 
news  came  that  General  Brusiloff,  who  had 
directed  the  Russian  armies  in  the  great 
Galician  offensive,  and  who  was  a  real  national 
hero,  had  asked  to  be  relieved  of  his  com- 
mand. This  defection  was  swiftly  followed 
by  the  resignations  of  General  Russky  and 
General  Gurko. 

"  What  will  come  next  ?  "  asked  the  now 
thoroughly  alarmed  people. 

They  were  not  long  in  finding  out. 

A  group  of  Socialists  went  to  Schliisselburg, 
near  Petrograd,  a  seat  of  one  of  the  largest  of 
the  Russian  powder  factories,  and  employing 
more  than  10,000  men,  and  tried  to  set  up 
an  autonomous  Republic  defying  the  Pro- 
visional Government.  A  counter  Revolution 
seemed  imminent.  The  spectre  of  a  New 
Russia,  composed  of  numerous  small  and 
conflicting  Republics,  rose  over  the  horizon. 

Nor  were  German  agents  slow  to  reap  a 


REACTION  &  RECONSTRUCTION  135 

harvest  out  of  this  whirlpool  of  disorder. 
Many  Prussian  agents  had  escaped  the  comb 
of  the  Revolution  and  others  were  able  to 
get  to  the  country  in  the  early  days  of  the 
upheaval  when  the  frontiers  were  as  open 
gates.  They  plied  an  industrious  and  de- 
vastating propaganda.  Petrograd  was  like  an 
asp  that  sucked  the  life's  blood  of  Liberty. 

It  was  this  condition  that  led  Kerensky  to 
ask  :  "  Is  it  a  case  that  Free  Russia  has 
become  a  State  of  revolted  slaves  ?  We  have 
taken  a  sip  of  freedom  and  it  has  intoxicated 
us." 

The  anomalous  situation  could  not  continue. 
Anarchy  loomed  dark  amid  the  encircling 
chaos.  It  was  too  late  for  a  great-hearted 
Lincoln  to  bind  the  conflicting  factions. 
The  conviction  began  to  grow  that  Russia 
could  only  be  saved  by  the  ruthlessness  and 
the  resolution  of  a  Cromwell.  It  was  a  choice 
between  dictatorship  and  disintegration. 

At  the  moment  when  despair  was  darkest, 
and  when  only  a  hairbreadth  seemed  to 
separate  the  Provisional  Government  from  a 
new  Socialistic  regime,  the  whole  problem  was 
solved  with  dramatic  swiftness.  Once  more 
it  was  Kerensky  who  redeemed  the  hour. 
He  made  an  impassioned  plea  for  conciliation 


136      THE  REBIRTH   OF  RUSSIA 

to  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  Council  of 
Workmen's  and  Soldiers'  Delegates,  and  by  a 
vote  of  forty-one  to  nineteen  it  decided  in 
favour  of  participation  by  the  Socialistic 
parties  with  the  Provisional  Government. 
Whatever  might  now  happen,  there  was  at 
least  unity  of  action  among  the  forces  that 
controlled  the  country. 

After  an  all-night  session  between  the 
Executive  Committee  of  the  Council  of  Work- 
men's and  Soldiers'  Delegates,  the  Ministry, 
and  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  Duma, 
the  fundamental  principles  forming  the  basis 
of  the  new  co-operation  were  decided  on. 
They  were  : 

"  Active  foreign  policy  directed  towards  the 
speediest  possible  attainment  of  general  peace 
without  annexation  or  indemnity,  based  on 
the  express  will  of  the  people,  and  negotiations 
with  the  Allies  for  a  revision  of  their  agree- 
ments with  Russia  on  the  basis  of  the 
declaration  of  the  Provisional  Government  of 
April  gth. 

"  Democratization  of  the  Army  and  im- 
provement in  fighting  effectiveness  at  the 
Front  for  proper  defence  of  Russian  freedom. 

"  Re-establishment  of  internal  order  by 
State  control  of  food  supplies  and  transport. 


REACTION  £  RECONSTRUCTION   137 

"Agrarian  policy  on  basis  of  land  for  the 
people. 

"  Reorganization  of  the  existing  financial 
system  with  a  view  to  the  transference  of  the 
burden  of  taxation  to  the  wealthy  and  property- 
owning  classes. 

"  Earliest  possible  meeting  of  the  Con- 
stituent Assembly. 

"  Socialist  Ministers  to  be  responsible  to  the 
Council  of  Workmen's  and  Soldiers'  Dele- 
gates, and  not  to  the  Provisional  Govern- 
ment." 

This  programme  of  policy  necessitated 
great  concessions  to  the  Socialists,  but  they 
were  an  indispensable  condition  of  Socialistic 
collaboration  with  the  Government.  It  was 
a  desperate  case  that  required  an  equally 
desperate  remedy.  Russia  had  to  be  saved 
from  the  anarchy  which  had  already  cast  its 
shadow  over  the  land. 

A  Coalition  Cabinet — the  agency  that  saved 
Great  Britain  during  the  dark  days  of  1916— 
now  came  to  the  rescue  of  racked  Russia. 
The  national  carpenters  began  their  work, 
and  there  was  a  mighty  hammering.  The 
Socialists  had  been  promised  six  portfolios  in 
the  reorganized  Government,  and  this  meant 
that  somebody  had  to  be  displaced. 


138      THE  REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 

But  before  the  shake-up  began  Milyukoff 
resigned  as  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs.  His 
retirement  was  one  of  the  conditions  of 
Socialist  co-operation.  His  views  on  the 
subject  of  Russia's  international  obligations 
were  too  strong  for  the  Radical  stomach. 
With  that  fine  sense  of  loyalty  which  had 
marked  the  long  years  of  his  devotion  to  the 
cause  of  freedom,  he  pledged  his  services  to  the 
new  order  and  urged  his  Constitutional  Demo- 
cratic colleagues  in  the  Cabinet — Shingareff 
and  Manuiloff — to  remain  at  their  posts. 
He  was  succeeded  by  Tereshtchenko,  whose 
office  as  Minister  of  Finance  was  assumed  by 
Shingareff. 

The  miracle  of  the  reorganized  Govern- 
ment was  the  shifting  of  Kerensky  from  the 
Ministry  of  Justice  to  the  War  Portfolio.  A 
Socialist  and  a  Labourite  was  in  the  seat  of 
Mars  !  It  was  typical  of  the  destiny  of  this 
remarkable  man  that  in  accepting  this  most 
difficult  of  all  the  Cabinet  posts  he  really 
assumed  responsibility  for  the  future  of 
Russia. 

The  reconstituted  Cabinet  included  nine 
of  the  old  Ministers.  Five  new  posts  were 
created — Labour,  Public  Relief,  Food  Sup- 
plies, Post  and  Telegraphs,  and  a  Department 


REACTION  &  RECONSTRUCTION  139 

for  the  Affairs  of  the  Constituent  Assembly 
to  be  convened  in  Petrograd. 

As  reorganized,  the  Cabinet  presented  the 
following  personnel  :  Prince  George  Lvoff, 
Prime  Minister  and  Interior  ;  Tereshtchenko, 
Foreign  Affairs  ;  Kerensky,  War  and  Marine  ; 
Shingareff,  Finance  ;  Nekrasoff,  Railways  ; 
Konovaloff,  Commerce  ;  Godneff,  State 
Controller  ;  Manuiloff,  Education  ;  Vladimir 
Lvoff,  Holy  Synod ;  Pereveizeff,  Justice ; 
Skobeleff ,  Labour  ;  Tchernoff,  Agriculture  ; 
Tseretelli,  Posts  and  Telegraphs  ;  Pietchekho- 
noff,  Food  Supplies  ;  Shakhovskoy,  Public 
Relief  ;  Grimm,  Constituent  Affairs. 

Although  they  came  from  the  domain  of 
discord  the  new  Ministers  were  proved  and 
seasoned  organizers,  for  they  really  repre- 
sented the  best  element  in  the  Council  of 
Workmen's  and  Soldiers'  Delegates.  Skobe- 
leff, for  example,  had  been  Vice-President, 
and  had  great  capacity  for  quick  decision, 
while  Tchernoff  has  been  for  fifteen  years 
on  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  Social 
Democratic  Party,  which  defied  Government 
espionage  and  affected  a  far-reaching  organiza- 
tion extending  to  the  smallest  villages.  He 
is  a  leader  in  the  Russian  Co-operative 
movement,  and  his  presence  in  the  Cabinet 


140      THE  REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 


when  the  inevitable  question  of  land  settle- 
ment arises  means  that  the  peasant  will  have 
a  strong  friend  at  court.  In  the  same  way 
Tseretelli  had  been  a  conspicuous  member  in 
the  Petrograd  Committee  of  Workmen's  and 
Soldiers'  Delegates,  an  able  Parliamentarian, 
and  a  convincing  speaker.  Prince  Shak- 
hovskoy  had  been  Secretary  of  the  Duma, 
and  at  the  time  of  his  appointment  to  the 
Cabinet  was  Director  of  the  Grain  Elevators. 
The  Food  Controller — Pietchekhonoff — is  a 
journalist  who  founded  the  People's  Freedom 
Party,  which,  while  adopting  the  programme 
of  the  Social  Revolutionary  Party,  rejected 
terrorism  as  too  excessive  a  means  for 
achieving  their  ends. 

On  the  reorganization  of  the  Ministry  gloom 
gave  way  to  gladness.  The  effect  of  the  new 
concord  was  magnetic.  The  Generals  who 
had  resigned  withdrew  their  resignations, 
and  a  conference  between  all  the  Army  heads 
and  the  Government  was  held  at  Petrograd, 
where  plans  were  discussed  for  a  vigorous 
offensive.  The  breath  of  life  was  infused  into 
the  Forces  at  the  Front. 

Even  the  Council  of  Workmen's  and 
Soldiers'  Delegates  rose  to  the  occasion  and 
issued  a  stirring  appeal  to  the  Army,  urging 


REACTION  6-  RECONSTRUCTION  141 

it  to  fight  on  to  a  peace  dictated  by  victory 
alone.  "  The  workmen  and  peasants  of 
Russia  long  for  peace,"  it  stated,  "  but  it 
must  be  a  general  peace  of  all  the  nations, 
and  the  result  of  their  common  agreement. 
A  separate  peace  is  an  impossible  thing, 
which  must  not  be  allowed  to  interfere  with 
or  embarrass  the  events  of  the  world.  It  is 
evident  that  in  this  case  German  imperialism, 
after  having  defeated  our  Western  Allies,  will 
turn  against  us  the  whole  power  of  its  arms, 
will  seize  our  country,  and  will  enslave  the 
Russian  people." 

Dominating  the  entire  remade  Government, 
however,  was  the  personality  of  Kerensky. 
He  rose  to  this  fresh  occasion  with  all  the 
splendid  purpose  and  patriotism  that  had 
marked  him  in  every  other  crisis.  One  of  his 
first  official  acts  was  to  visit  the  Congress  of 
Peasant  Delegates  which  had  just  convened 
in  Petrograd,  to  whom  he  made  a  charac- 
teristic speech  which  sounded  the  clarion 
note  of  reconstruction  and  order.  He  called 
upon  the  soldiers  and  sailors  present  to  make 
an  heroic  effort  for  the  country,  and  he  de- 
clared his  intention  to  go  to  the  Front  and 
talk  to  the  men  in  the  trenches.  He  received 
a  great  ovation. 


142      THE  REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 

He  at  once  issued  the  following  Order  of  the 
Day  to  the  Army  : 

"  The  country  is  in  danger,  and  each  one 
must  do  what  he  can  to  avert  it.  No  request 
to  be  allowed  to  resign  made  in  the  desire 
to  escape  responsibility  at  a  time  so  grave 
as  the  present  will  be  accepted  by  me. 
Deserters  are  enjoined  to  return  to  the 
Army  and  the  Fleet  within  the  time  already 
specified — namely,  by  May  28th.  All  infrac- 
tions of  these  instructions  will  be  severely 
punished." 

He  followed  this  up  with  a  still  more 
striking  appeal  to  the  Army,  which  read  : 

"  You  will  advance  in  serried  ranks,  united 
by  discipline  and  duty  and  by  an  unbounded 
love  for  the  Revolution  and  the  country. 
Let  the  Army  and  the  Fleet,  which  are  the 
freest  in  the  world,  prove  that  liberty  is  the 
pledge  of  strength  and  not  of  weakness. 
Let  them  forge  a  new  discipline  of  iron,  that 
of  duty,  and  increase  the  combative  power  of 
the  country.  Remember  that  whoever  looks 
behind,  stops,  or  draws  back  will  lose  every- 
thing. Do  not  forget  that  if  you  do  not 
defend  the  honour,  liberty,  and  dignity  of  the 
country  your  names  will  be  cursed.  The  will 
of  the  people  must  rid  the  country  and  the 


REACTION  &  RECONSTRUCTION  143 

world  of  violators  and  usurpers.  Such  is  the 
high  deed  to  which  I  call  you." 

The  formation  of  the  new  Ministry  solved 
the  whole  question  of  a  Russian  Constitution. 
The  Duma  surrendered  its  powers,  remaining 
as  a  sort  of  watch-dog  of  the  nation's  interests. 
The  Council  of  Workmen's  and  Soldiers'  Dele- 
gates assumed  the  dignity  and  dimension  of 
a  Parliament,  while  the  Provisional  Govern- 
ment became  the  Executive.  The  threatened 
duality  of  authority  vanished  like  a  horrid 
dream. 

The  Provisional  Government  immediately 
issued  a  declaration  of  its  principles,  which 
embodied  the  following  : 

"  In  its  foreign  policy  the  Provisional 
Government,  rejecting  in  concert  with  the 
entire  people  all  thought  of  a  separate  peace, 
adopts  openly  as  its  aim  the  re-establishment 
of  a  general  peace  which  shall  not  tend 
toward  either  domination  over  other  nations, 
or  the  seizure  of  their  national  possessions, 
or  the  violent  usurpation  of  their  territories — 
a  peace  without  annexations  or  indemnities, 
and  based  on  the  rights  of  nations  to  decide 
their  own  affairs. 

"  In  the  firm  conviction  that  the  fall  of  the 
regime  of  Czardom  in  Russia,  and  the  con- 


144      THE  REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 

solidation  of  democratic  principles  in  our 
internal  and  external  policy,  will  create  in 
the  Allied  Democracies  new  aspirations  to- 
wards a  stable  peace  and  the  brotherhood  of 
nations,  the  Provisional  Government  will  take 
steps  towards  bringing  about  an  agreement 
with  the  Allies  on  the  basis  of  its  declaration 
of  April  gth. 

"  Convinced  that  the  defeat  of  Russia  and 
her  Allies  would  not  only  be  the  greatest 
calamity  to  the  people,  but  would  postpone 
or  make  impossible  the  conclusion  of  a  world- 
wide peace  on  the  basis  indicated  above,  the 
Provisional  Government  believes  firmly  that 
the  Russian  Revolutionary  Army  will  not 
suffer  the  German  troops  to  destroy  our 
Western  Allies,  and  then  throw  themselves 
upon  us  with  the  full  force  of  their  arms." 

Out  of  revolt  had  come  reconstruction. 
The  face  of  the  nation  was  once  more  turned 
toward  the  light. 


CHAPTER   IX 

The  Revolution  Makers 

NO  crisis  has  ever  called  to  its  standard 
a  fitter  company  of  captains  than  the 
men  who  made  the  Russian  Revolution. 
They  were  the  kind  of  volunteers  that  an 
American  emergency  might  have  recruited. 
Among  them  mingled  millionaire  and  radical ; 
soldier  and  dreamer ;  professor  and  proletariat 
— strange  company  to  be  enlisted  from  the 
legions  of  Empire.  There  were  Social  and 
Constitutional  Democrats ;  Middle-grounders 
and  Conservatives — veterans  who  had  sur- 
vived the  terror  of  Red  Sunday,  who  had 
debated  in  cellars  even  as  they  now  presided 
in  palaces — patriots  and  warriors  all,  who  had 
staked  life  and  fortune  upon  the  Great  Issue. 
You  saw  them  and  you  realized  that  they 
were  the  keepers  of  Democracy.  You  com- 
prehended, too,  that  the  Revolution  had  not 
been  a  one-man  task,  but  the  product  of  an 
inspired  team-work. 

These  men  had  been  the  bulwark  of  the 

US  K 


146      THE  REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 

dark  hour  of  deliverance,  and  they  remained 
the  safeguard  of  its  fruitage.  So  long  as  they 
survived  you  had  no  fear  of  the  future.  As  I 
saw  them  at  work  they  reminded  me  of  the 
Board  of  Directors  of  a  vast  Corporation. 
Vitality,  vigour,  and  vision  were  theirs,  and 
the  business  they  had  begun  to  administer 
had  a  branch  wherever  man  dwelt  in  content 
or  desired  to  be  free. 

They  sat  in  the  stately  Assembly  Room  of 
the  Marie  Palace,  where,  by  one  of  the  many 
ironies  that  marked  the  remaking  of  Russia, 
the  old  Council  of  Ministers  had  throttled 
Freedom  through  all  the  years  of  the  nation's 
servitude.  Over  them  and  flanking  the 
superb  white  marble  Florentine  mantelpiece 
hung  life-size  paintings  of  Alexander  II.  and 
Alexander  III.  In  former  times  the  semi- 
circle of  seats  where  the  Ministers  sat  had 
faced  a  full-length  portrait  of  Nicholas  the 
Deposed.  That  old  group  of  servile  cour- 
tiers could  look  up  at  their  royal  master 
and  behold  the  bearded  face  which  smiled 
upon  the  deliberations  that  debased  the 
Empire.  But  now  that  space,  where  once 
hung  the  likeness  of  the  last  of  the  Romanoffs 
to  wear  a  crown,  was  a  virgin  mass  of  white 
crape.  The  Czar's  picture  had  been  blotted 


THE  REVOLUTION  MAKERS     147 

from  sight,  even  as  he  himself  had  passed  into 
eclipse. 

In  the  earlier  sessions  the  Provisional 
Ministry  unfolded  a  gallery  worthy  of  a 
Carlyle  portraiture.  In  the  centre  sat  Lvoff, 
the  zealot  Prince,  who  had  become  Premier, 
and  at  his  right — typical  of  the  new  Russian 
Democracy — was  Kerensky  the  Firebrand  : 
pale,  eloquent,  passionate.  On  his  left  was 
the  white-haired  Milyukoff,  veteran  of  long 
wars  of  protest.  There,  too,  were  the  nimble- 
minded  Tereshtchenko,  the  Sugar  Beet  King, 
who  had  left  his  own  millions  to  rehabilitate 
the  fortunes  of  his  country ;  Gutchkoff,  the 
banker  soldier-of -fortune,  who  had  fought 
from  Tibet  to  South  Africa,  and  at  whose 
behest  the  Czar  signed  the  abdication  that 
was  the  death-warrant  of  his  line  ;  Konovaloff , 
who  had  turned  from  the  unromantic  textile 
manufacture  to  face  machine-guns  in  the 
streets ;  Shingareff ,  the  one-time  doctor, 
who  was  saving  liberty  instead  of  life,  and  all 
the  rest.  Only  the  massive  Rodzianko  was 
missing.  The  glory  of  a  nation  was  written 
in  their  leadership.  Whatever  fate  befall 
them  hi  the  days  to  come  their  names  will  live 
in  the  stirring  record  of  their  times. 

From  the  lips  of  these  Washingtons,  Hamil- 


148      THE  REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 

tons,  Jeffersons,  and  Lincolns  of  the  Russian 
Revolution  (there  were  no  Marats,  Dantons, 
or  Robespierres)  I  heard  the  epic  tale  of  the 
Seven  Days  out  of  whose  ordeal  emerged  the 
infant  Liberty. 

Each  of  these  men  brought  to  his  post  a 
ripe  experience  ;  all  had  been  tested  in  the 
fires  of  ordeal  and  had  not  been  found  wanting. 
The  career  of  the  Premier  is  typical.  Long 
before  the  Revolution,  all  down-trodden 
Russia,  and  more  especially  the  peasant  ground 
under  the  heel  of  Autocracy,  knew  him  as 
friend,  guide,  and  philosopher.  He  was  born 
in  Moscow,  and  early  in  life  made  a  trip  to  the 
United  States,  where  he  tramped  over  a  large 
section  of  the  Middle  and  Far  West.  Here  he 
got  his  first  draught  of  Democracy,  and,  like 
a  strong  spirit,  it  burned  into  his  system. 

In  1891,  when  the  failure  of  the  harvest 
brought  the  horrors  of  famine  to  millions  of 
Russian  homes,  he  acquired  his  first  reputa- 
tion as  a  philanthropist,  for  he  strove  with 
all  the  power  and  wealth  at  his  command  to 
feed  the  starving,  and  more  especially  the 
peculiarly  oppressed  Government  of  Tula. 
Here  he  encountered  the  reactionary  influences 
of  the  old  regime,  which  sought  to  prove 
as  usual  that  all  was  well  with  the  people — 


PRINCE   GEORGE    E.  LVOFF 


THE   REVOLUTION   MAKERS     149 

that  the  pangs  of  hunger  which  cried  out  for 
relief  were  really  a  state  of  mind. 

It  is  in  connection  with  the  great  Zemstvos 
Union,  however,  that  Prince  Lvoff  made 
his  reputation  as  a  public  benefactor. 
The  Zemstvos,  as  most  people  know,  is  a 
public-spirited  organization  very  much  like  a 
City  or  County  Council,  which  has  a  branch 
in  nearly  every  community  of  any  consequence 
in  Russia.  When  the  war  with  Japan  began, 
the  Zemstvos  immediately  extended  its  field 
of  operations  to  relieve  the  sick  and  help  the 
wounded  soldiers.  During  this  great  national 
tragedy  the  Prince  made  repeated  visits  to  the 
Front,  and,  by  his  inspiring  presence  and 
unfaltering  effort,  endeared  himself  not  only 
to  the  host  that  bled  and  died  on  those 
Eastern  fields,  but  to  the  mothers,  fathers, 
sisters,  and  brothers  who  were  left  behind  to 
mourn  and  to  suffer. 

Prince  Lvoff  came  into  particular  promi- 
nence in  1904,  when  Russia's  dawn  began. 
He  was  one  of  the  foremost  among  those  who 
petitioned  the  Emperor  for  reforms,  and  when 
the  First  Duma  was  wrested  from  a  grudging 
Government  he  was  elected  to  represent  the 
electors  of  Tula.  He  at  once  developed  those 
qualities  of  initiative  and  construction  which 


150      THE  REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 

have  made  him  one  of  Russia's  foremost 
public  servants.  His  long  study  of  the 
agrarian  problem,  together  with  his  familiarity 
with  popular  needs,  equipped  him  for  a  very 
large  service. 

During  the  two  months  of  that  memorable 
session  he  made  various  speeches,  pointing  out 
the  errors  of  the  old  rule,  and  urging  the  need 
of  a  closer  co-operation  between  the  Govern- 
ment and  the  people.  Under  his  inspiration 
the  Assembly  devoted  itself  seriously  to  the 
question  of  food  supply,  and  one  of  the 
results  was  the  formation  of  a  Food  Com- 
mission. When  the  Duma  adjourned,  the 
Prince  devoted  himself  exclusively  to  the 
Zemstvos  and  civic  work.  Moscow  showed 
its  tangible  appreciation  by  electing  him  a 
Municipal  Councillor  and  Member  of  the 
Zemstvos  for  the  Government  of  Moscow,  and 
subsequently  by  making  him  Mayor. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  present  war  a  wave 
of  popular  confidence  unanimously  placed  him 
at  the  head  of  the  All  Russia  Union  of  Zem- 
stvos— the  Federation  of  all  the  local  bodies — 
and  from  this  time  on  he  has  loomed  large 
in  national  affairs. 

The  Union  at  once  duplicated  and  then 
expanded  its  work  in  the  Russo-Japanese 


THE  REVOLUTION  MAKERS     151 

conflict.  It  undertook  the  responsibility  of 
providing  food,  clothing,  medicine,  and  sani- 
tary equipment  for  the  army,  establishing  a 
close  working  contact  with  the  Red  Cross, 
and  had  an  active  part  in  providing  for 
disabled  soldiers  upon  their  discharge  from 
the  hospitals.  In  this  way  thousands  of 
battered  human  wrecks  were  rescued  from 
becoming  derelicts. 

Over  all  this  many-sided  effort  Prince 
Lvoff  laid  his  masterful  hand.  One  week  saw 
him  at  the  Front  ministering  among  the 
wounded,  the  next  found  him  presiding  at  a 
Zemstvo  Union,  a  model  of  suave  and  Parlia- 
mentary perfection. 

I  like  to  remember  my  first  sight  of  him. 
It  was  in  the  hideous  yellow-and-white 
building,  misnamed  a  palace,  that  stands 
just  off  the  Nevsky,  sentinelled  by  the  huge 
statue  of  Catherine  the  Great.  Here,  in  the 
very  lair  of  the  Reaction  that  Was,  I  found 
this  slight,  bent,  bearded  little  man,  whose 
manner  was  kindly  almost  to  benevolence,  and 
who  met  me  with  a  grave  but  charming 
courtesy.  You  have  only  to  look  into  his 
eyes  to  see  the  reflection  of  a  great  soul. 

He  sat  at  an  elaborate  desk  littered  with 
papers.  It  was  the  very  same  desk  from 


152      THE  REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 

which  Protopopoff  issued  the  orders  that 
gagged  and  bound  Russia.  On  the  walls  of 
the  ante-room  just  outside  were  the  pictures 
of  many  of  Lvoff's  predecessors,  some  of  them, 
like  Pleve  and  Stolypin,  who  had  paid  with 
their  lives  for  the  power  they  abused. 

Like  many  Russians  Prince  Lvoff  is  both 
emotional  and  eloquent.  He  is  very  likely 
to  begin  a  conversation  with  a  foreigner  in 
French,  and,  when  feeling  stirs  him  and  he 
kindles  to  his  subject,  he  lapses  swiftly  into 
Russian. 

I  remarked  on  the  tide  of  time  that  had 
landed  him  in  the  seat  of  Sturmer  and  Proto- 
popoff. 

"  Ah,"  he  replied,  and  his  eyes  lighted  up, 
"  they  were  the  slave  drivers." 

"And  you  ?"  I  asked. 

"  We  are  the  servants  of  the  people,"  he 
answered.  "  Autocracy  in  Russia  is  dead  for 
ever." 

In  these  last  words  the  Prime  Minister  un- 
consciously interpreted  himself,  for  he  has 
indeed  been  the  servant  of  his  nation. 

The  best-known  member  of  the  first  Pro- 
visional Cabinet,  so  far  as  the  outside  world  is 
concerned,  is  Paul  Milyukoff.  For  twenty- 
five  years  he  led  the  good  fight.  From  youth 


THE  REVOLUTION  MAKERS     153 

to  middle  age,  and  then  beyond  to  the  mellow 
years,  he  carried  with  him  not  only  an 
amazing  vitality,  but  a  sweet  optimism  and 
an  abiding  faith  in  the  future.  He  lived  to 
see  that  long  dream  realized,  and  with  such 
an  outpouring  of  freedom  that  he  was  well 
compensated  for  the  hardships  he  had  suffered. 

Although  he  was  the  one  purely  academic 
member  of  the  original  Revolutionary  Govern- 
ment his  career  has  been  animated.  After  his 
graduation  from  Moscow  in  1886  he  became 
a  lecturer  on  Russian  history,  but  it  was  not 
long  before  he  was  dispossessed  on  the  ground 
of  being  "  politically  unsound."  His  strong 
Radical  convictions  made  his  presence  in 
Russia  undesirable,  so  he  took  up  his  abode  at 
Sofia,  where  he  lectured  on  general  history  at 
the  University.  In  1889  he  was  permitted  to  re- 
turn to  Russia,  where  he  engaged  in  literary  and 
j  ournalistic  work .  He  started  a  magazine  called 
"God's  World," and  was  soon  after  called  upon 
to  make  the  first  of  the  many  sacrifices  that 
he  made  for  conscience  and  freedom. 

One  night  he  presided  at  a  harmless 
assembly  of  students.  The  police,  however, 
had  different  opinions.  They  regarded  it  as  a 
"  secret  political  conspiracy,"  Milyukoff  was 
arrested,  and  spent  six  months  in  prison. 


154      THE  REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 

In  1902  he  went  to  America,  where  he 
delivered  a  course  of  lectures  on  Russia  at  the 
University  of  Chicago.  His  forceful  powers 
of  expression  and  his  intelligent  grasp  of 
Democracy  gained  for  him  a  large  audience. 
Those  were  the  years  of  research,  and  he  spent 
the  greater  part  of  1904,  and  the  beginning 
of  1905,  in  London,  working  in  the  British 
Museum. 

But  the  Voice  of  Revolution  was  calling  to 
him  from  his  native  land.  He  returned  to 
Petrograd  with  summer,  and  devoted  himself 
heart  and  soul  to  the  Liberation  movement, 
which  was  soon  to  be  drenched  in  blood,  but 
which  was  to  have  its  reward  in  the  First 
Duma.  Milyukoff  was  elected  as  a  Member 
of  Petrograd.  The  Government,  however,  re- 
garded him  as  too  dangerous  an  element  even 
to  be  trusted  in  those  near  halls  of  free  discus- 
sion .  So  he  remained  on  the  outside  and  exerted 
a  powerful  influence.  He  helped  to  organize 
the  Constitutional  Democratic  Party — the  so- 
called  Cadets — became  their  President  and 
likewise  the  inspiration  of  the  movement. 

He  alone  among  the  forces  that  fought  for 
freedom  maintained  the  serene  optimism  which 
has  guided  and  sustained  him  through  all  the 
troubled  waters.  After  the  hideous  slaughter 


THE   REVOLUTION  MAKERS     155 

at  Moscow  he  said  to  an  English  author  then 
in  Petrograd  : 

"  The  reaction  cannot  last  very  long.  The 
Moscow  rising  was  a  great  mistake,  and  at  the 
end  of  it  I,  too,  almost  despaired.  I  thought 
all  the  educated  people  and  the  well-to-do 
would  be  permanently  set  against  change. 
But  the  Government's  violence  has  kept  them 
on  our  side.  The  '  classes '  are  as  much 
sickened  by  the  slaughter  as  other  people. 
They  have  learnt  that  it  is  the  Government 
and  not  the  Revolutionists  who  are  the  party 
of  destruction  and  disorder.  Reaction  ? 
Why,  it  is  already  over.  The  spirit  of  the 
thing  is  dead." 

"The  spirit  of  the  thing"  was  not  dead, 
but  the  rot  had  started  at  the  root  and 
Milyukoff  lived  to  see  the  foul  structure 
totter.  The  years  between  the  First  Duma 
and  the  Revolution  of  1917  were  spent  by  him 
in  unremitting  public  service.  His  tongue 
and  his  pen  were  geared  incessantly  to  the 
freedom  that  struggled  against  such  heavy 
odds.  He  served  in  the  Third  and  Fourth 
Imperial  Dumas,  and  he  found  time  amid 
all  his  distracting  labours  to  found  the 
"  Retch,"  now  one  of  the  leading  Petrograd 
newspapers,  and  he  made  it  the  medium  of 


156      THE  REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 

fearless,  brilliant,  and  persistent  attack  on  the 
old  order.  No  other  man  in  Russia  had  so 
conspicuous  a  part  in  laying  bare  the  abuses 
and  the  excesses  of  reaction.  Daily  he  put  his 
head  into  the  noose.  How  he  escaped  is  a 
mystery.  One  of  the  chief  contributory 
causes  of  the  Revolution  was  his  famous 
speech  in  the  Duma  in  November,  already 
referred  to  in  this  book,  which  laid  bare  the 
whole  infamous  pro-German  conspiracy  which 
was  to  debase  Russia  and  deliver  her  into  the 
hands  of  her  enemies.  With  that  speech 
Milyukoff  went  to  the  very  last  limit  to  which 
a  dauntless  patriotism  could  go. 

It  was  on  the  Easter  Sunday  after  the 
Revolution  that  I  met  Milyukoff.  Blue  skies 
and  spring  sunshine  smiled  on  Petrograd ; 
and  the  city  rang  with  the  peal  of  joyous 
church  bells.  A  freed  people  paraded  the 
streets.  Their  proudest  holiday  finery  was 
the  badge  of  Liberty.  Winter  had  gone  and 
the  world  seemed  renewed  and  glad.  But  it 
was  no  gladder  and  no  more  renewed  than 
this  blue-eyed  professor,  who  saw  in  all  happy 
awakening  about  him  the  realization  of  his 
cherished  ideals. 

It  was  on  that  day  he  said  to  me  : 

"  For  many  years  the  Russian  people  have 


THE  REVOLUTION  MAKERS     157 

consciously  and  unconsciously  been  preparing 
for  Liberty  and  Democracy.  Locally,  every 
Russian  community  has  been  self-governing, 
and  in  the  last  analysis  Democracy  simply 
means  self-government.  Now  that  the  old 
oppression  is  for  ever  gone,  and  with  it  every 
symbol  of  suppression  of  free  speech  and  free 
institutions,  the  country  will  go  forward  to  a 
realization  of  its  great  destiny,  which  is  a 
proud  place  among  the  Democracies  of  the 
world.  And  part  of  that  larger  destiny  is 
brotherhood  with  America." 

I  saw  Milyukoff  many  times  after  that  first 
meeting,  often  when  the  fierce  currents  of 
discord  and  dissension  swirled  about  him. 
He  never  lost  his  faith  or  his  courage.  He 
was  willing  to  put  his  very  body  into  the 
breach,  content  if  it  only  momentarily  stopped 
the  inrushing  flood. 

When,  for  the  sake  of  harmony  and  recon- 
struction, he  surrendered  his  Cabinet  post 
that  the  new  freedom  might  live,  he  took  his 
place  in  the  ranks  of  Democracy  with  the  same 
high  sense  of  service  that  had  dictated  all  his 
other  sacrifices.  Courage,  vision,  and  stamina 
meet  in  Paul  Milyukoff.  He  is  both  fighter 
and  dreamer. 

Now  turn  to  his  co-patriot,  Michael  Rodzi- 


158      THE  REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 

anko,  that  mammoth  of  a  man,  whose  bulk 
rose  like  a  mountain  of  refuge  when  the  storm 
of  Revolution  broke.  Physically  he  would 
make  half  a  dozen  Lvoffs.  Just  to  look  at 
him  is  to  get  an  impression  of  strength  and 
power.  He  comes  from  a  Cossack  family,  and 
was  born  for  the  army.  Before  he  was  out  of 
his  teens  he  was  in  the  Imperial  Horse  Guards, 
with  which  he  served  for  many  years  with 
distinction. 

For  ten  years — that  is,  from  1886  to  1896 — 
Rodzianko  was  Marshal  of  the  Nobility  of  the 
District  of  Novomoskovsk,  preparing  himself 
for  the  outstanding  part  which  he  was  destined 
to  play  in  the  politics  of  his  country.  In 
1902  he  took  his  stand  bravely  with  those  who 
rallied  to  the  October  manifesto,  which  was 
the  birth-certificate  of  the  Duma.  To  these 
convictions  he  remained  true  throughout  the 
vicissitudes  of  the  first  three  Dumas.  His 
loyalty  was  rewarded  in  1912,  when  he  was 
elected  President  of  the  Chamber. 

Since  the  outbreak  of  war  he  has  combined 
a  lofty  patriotism  with  unswerving  devotion 
to  his  Constitutional  principles.  In  a  notable 
utterance  during  the  early  days  of  the  struggle, 
and  addressing  himself  to  Russia's  enemies, 
he  said  : 


THE  REVOLUTION  MAKERS     159 

"  You  think  dissension  and  dislike  divide 
us,  whereas  all  the  peoples  inhabiting  the 
boundless  lands  of  Russia  are  joined  in  one 
vast  family  since  danger  threatens  our  com- 
mon country." 

Rodzianko  broods  like  a  mighty  spirit  over 
the  Duma.  In  repose  you  can  feel  his  very 
presence.  When  he  talks,  the  great  Catherine 
Hall  echoes  as  with  the  roar  of  a  cataract. 
Yet  this  giant  can  be  as  tender  as  a  child. 
I  have  seen  him  shaken  by  emotion  that  left 
him  speechless.  Rodzianko  is  a  great  deal 
more  than  President  of  the  Duma ;  he  is  a 
vital  force  in  the  reconstniction  of  Russia, 
who  must  be  reckoned  with  whatever  group 
attains  the  ascendancy. 

So,  too,  with  Alexander  Gutchkoff.  Long 
before  the  dawn  of  the  Revolution  which  gave 
him  such  prominence  he  had  been  a  con- 
spicuous and  picturesque  figure  in  Russian 
Liberal  life.  No  member  of  the  Cabinet  has 
had  so  varied  or  stirring  a  career.  He  has 
fought  under  half  a  dozen  flags — he  has  been 
a  stormy  petrel  that  flapped  his  wings  in  as 
many  lands. 

Gutchkoff  was  born  in  Moscow,  the  son  of 
wealthy  parents.  After  graduating  from  the 
University  in  his  native  place  he  devoted 


160      THE  REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 

himself  to  the  textile  industry.  His  early 
ambition  was  for  a  Parliamentary  career,  not 
through  the  Zemstvos  however,  but  by  way 
of  the  Bourse  Committee,  the  Congress  of 
Commerce  and  Industry,  and  other  similar 
organizations.  Possessed  of  ample  means, 
he  was  able  to  gratify  his  desire  for  a  public 
career,  and  he  became  a  Member  of  the 
Municipal  Council  of  Moscow  and  worked 
on  various  Commissions.  Like  Lvoff,  he 
laboured  manfully  to  relieve  the  distress 
caused  by  the  famine  in  1891. 

But  all  this  was  rather  tame  for  a  man 
whose  instinct  was  action.  When  disorder 
started  in  unhappy  Armenia,  and  unspeakable 
massacres  began  to  horrify  the  world,  he  was 
one  of  the  first  to  offer  his  sword  and  his 
service.  Both  were  gladly  accepted.  After 
this  baptism  of  blood  he  turned  to  peaceful 
pursuit,  for  he  became  Chief  of  Highways  of 
the  Railway  which  was  started  through  Man- 
churia. Here,  however,  he  got  another  taste 
of  fighting,  because  he  figured  in  more  than 
one  engagement  against  the  wild  native 
tribes.  Tibet  was  still  a  forbidden  land, 
so  he  went  there  in  search  of  adventure. 
When  the  Boer  War  started  he  promptly 
departed  for  South  Africa  and  enlisted  against 


THE  REVOLUTION  MAKERS     161 

the  British.  He  fought  for  six  months,  when 
he  was  incapacitated  and  invalided  home 
with  a  wound  in  his  leg. 

With  the  astounding  versatility  which  has 
marked  his  whole  crowded  life  he  took  up 
the  threads  of  commerce  again  and  became 
the  director  of  a  bank.  But  no  sooner  was 
he  safely  settled  in  his  new  work  than  the 
Revolution  in  Macedonia  broke  out  and  he 
became  involved  in  the  maelstrom  that 
swept  the  Balkans. 

The  Russo-Japanese  War  found  Gutchkoff 
a  ready  and  willing  recruit.  He  became 
Director  of  the  Red  Cross,  and  conducted 
operations  in  the  theatre  of  war  itself.  When 
the  Russians  retreated  from  Mukden  he 
remained  in  the  town  with  his  surgeons  in 
order  to  take  care  of  the  wounded,  was 
captured  by  the  Japanese  and  kept  a  prisoner 
until  the  end  of  the  war.  He  returned  to 
Russia  in  time  to  find  the  Revolutionary 
movement  of  1905  under  way,  and  he  promptly 
joined  it. 

When  "  The  Union  of  October  Seven- 
teenth "  was  founded  as  a  political  party,  he 
was  chosen  as  its  President,  and  took  a  lively 
part  in  the  political  struggle  of  the  parties 
before  the  election  of  the  First  Duma.  The 


victory  of  the  party  of  Cadets  made  it  im- 
possible for  him  to  enter  the  First  and  Second 
Imperial  Duma.  But  he  did  not  lay  down 
his  arms,  for  in  Moscow  he  founded  the  paper, 
"The  Voice  of  Moscow,"  and  continued  the 
fight.  In  1907  he  was  elected  a  Member  of 
the  Third  Duma.  Preferring  the  Duma  to  the 
Imperial  Council,  he  appeared  as  leader  of  the 
party  of  Octobrists,  and  in  1910  was  elected 
President  of  the  Duma  after  the  resignation 
of  Khomyakoff . 

In  the  summer,  however,  he  fought  a  duel 
with  Unison0,  and  was  sentenced  to  prison, 
which  necessitated  his  resignation  as  Chief 
Executive  of  the  Parliament.  When  he  was 
released  his  colleagues  welcomed  him  with  a 
re-election  to  the  Presidency,  which  he  again 
resigned  in  1911. 

Gutchkoff  was  the  first  to  denounce  the 
espionage  of  Myasojedoff,  and  when  the 
latter,  assuming  the  pose  of  outraged  virtue, 
challenged  his  enemy  to  a  duel,  he  was  at  once 
accepted.  He  was  like  a  child  in  Gutchkoff 's 
hands. 

No  man  in  Russia  realized  more  keenly  the 
inefficiencies  of  the  nation's  war  machine  than 
Gutchkoff.  His  first  disillusionising  contact 
with  it  had  been  in  the  war  with  Japan, 


THE  REVOLUTION  MAKERS     163 

and  in  the  years  that  followed  he  saw  the 
slow  disintegration  of  military  organization. 
When  the  Great  War  crashed  into  civilization 
he  shuddered  for  the  welfare  of  his  country. 
Like  thousands  of  his  countrymen  he  beheld 
with  humiliation  the  criminal  inadequacy  of 
transport  and  supplies.  It  was  largely  due 
to  his  efforts  that  the  War  Industries  Com- 
mittee was  formed.  He  became  President 
of  its  Central  Committee,  and  helped  in  no 
small  way  to  develop  the  great  aid  that  this 
body  brought  to  the  national  defence. 

You  have  already  seen  in  the  narrative  of 
the  Revolution  how  Gutchkoff  figured  in 
every  great  crisis  of  that  series  of  crises. 
None  of  them  were  greater  or  more  significant, 
however,  than  the  historic  moment  when  he 
dictated  the  abdication  of  the  Czar.  When 
the  Provisional  Ministry  was  being  fashioned, 
his  was  the  only  name  mentioned  for  the 
portfolio  of  War  and  Marine.  When  he  took 
the  post  a  real  warrior  was  on  the  job.  His 
impatience  led  him  to  resign  when  the  in- 
tegrity of  the  new  Government  was  menaced 
by  the  Socialistic  demagogues,  and  this 
unfortunate  retirement  prevented  him  from 
rendering  an  administration  that  would  have 
undoubtedly  been  brilliant  and  effective. 


164      THE  REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 

The  extraordinary  variety  of  achievement 
and  experience  which  characterized  the 
members  of  the  First  Provisional  Government 
is  expressed  in  Michael  Tereshtchenko,  the 
child  of  the  Cabinet,  for  he  is  only  thirty- 
three  years  old.  Here  you  have  a  man  whose 
career  ranges  all  the  way  from  professional 
pianist  to  Minister  of  Finance.  It  has  been  a 
marvel  of  efficiency. 

Tereshtchenko  is  the  son  of  a  peasant  who 
became  the  Sugar  Beet  King  of  Southern 
Russia.  He  inherited  this  title  and  with  it 
an  income  of  several  million  roubles  a  year. 
He  was  educated  at  Warsaw  and  Petrograd, 
and  then  studied  music,  for  which  he  had  a 
great  natural  aptitude,  at  Leipzig.  His  ex- 
perience in  Germany  gave  him  a  disinclination 
for  trade,  so  be  became  a  co-director  of  the 
famous  Marinsky  Theatre  in  Petrograd,  where 
he  often  played  the  piano  in  public.  On  the 
death  of  his  father,  however,  he  was  forced 
to  take  up  the  control  of  the  immense  business 
to  which  he  had  succeeded,  but  he  never 
permitted  himself  to  be  completely  immersed 
in  commerce. 

When  the  war  came  he  gave  himself  up  to 
the  struggle.  Like  various  other  rich  young 
men,  he  organized  a  sanitary  squad  (for  the 


THE  REVOLUTION  MAKERS    165 

hygienic  work  in  the  army  was  sadly  inade- 
quate), and  he  toiled  in  the  trenches  and 
hospitals  with  his  men  like  an  ordinary 
private.  He  financed  several  Red  Cross 
hospitals.  All  the  while  the  realization  of 
the  incompetency  of  the  national  munition 
organization  jarred  on  him.  He  found  a 
kindred  spirit  in  Gutchkoff ,  and  worked  with 
him  in  organizing  the  now  famous  War 
Industry  Committee.  Tereshtchenko  insisted 
that  the  workmen  be  given  a  representation 
on  it.  The  wisdom  of  this  step  was  at  once 
proved  by  increased  output,  harmony  and 
goodwill. 

This,  then,  was  the  type  of  man  who  was 
called  upon  to  become  Steward  of  Russia's 
bankrupt  treasury.  Most  men  would  have 
shrunk  from  the  peculiar  hardship  of  a 
task  which  involved  the  complete  rehabilita- 
tion of  the  finances  of  the  nation.  His 
business  training  came  in  good  stead,  for  he 
organized  a  complete  system  of  bookkeeping, 
and  for  the  first  time  the  Russian  Government 
found  out  precisely  where  its  accounts  stood. 
It  was  Tereshtchenko  who  conceived  and 
launched  the  Loan  of  Liberty.  He  wrote 
every  line  of  advertising  that  was  put  out. 
He  is  the  one  man  who  gives  you  the 


166      THE  REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 

immediate  impression  of  swift  and  dynamic 
American  business  methods.  If  he  lived  in 
the  United  States  he  would  be  called  a 
"  hustler."  Shut  your  eyes  as  he  talks  and 
think  you  are  listening  to  a  well-bred  English- 
man who  has  spent  all  his  life  at  Oxford. 
His  English  is  flawless.  He  even  has  an 
English  accent.  He  is  live,  sinuous,  active, 
yet  with  the  face  and  eye  of  a  poet.  Teresh- 
tchenko  is  proudly  and  passionately  Russian, 
and  he  sees  in  the  awakened  nation  a  New 
Nationalism  that  will  create  new  ideals  of 
character  and  achievement. 

Full  mate  to  Tereshtchenko  in  vigour  and 
vim  is  Alexander  Konovaloff,  the  textile 
manufacturer,  who,  like  so  many  of  his 
colleagues,  found  time  in  the  midst  of  a  busy 
business  life  to  devote  himself  to  the  public 
good.  He  had  a  very  intimate  connection 
with  the  organization  of  the  War  Industry 
Committee,  and  was  Vice-President  of  the 
Central  Committee.  When  Gutchkoff  was 
compelled  to  retire  for  a  time  on  account  of 
illness,  he  directed  the  entire  work  of  the 
organization. 

He  was  a  member  of  the  Fourth  Duma 
from  the  Government  of  Kostroma.  Here  he 
immediately  asserted  himself  as  a  man  of  force 


A.  E.  KOXAVOLOFF 


THE  REVOLUTION  MAKERS     167 

and  distinction,  and  was  made  Vice-President 
of  the  Committee  of  Commerce  and  Industry. 
He  is  virile  and  active — an  inspired  man  for 
his  post.  I  can  sum  up  his  qualities  in  no 
better  way  than  to  repeat  what  one  of  Russia's 
ablest  business  men  said  to  me  shortly  before 
I  left  Petrograd  :  "  Konovaloff  has  made  the 
dullest  department  of  the  Government  the 
liveliest ! " 

In  Andrew  Shingareff  the  constructive 
traditions  of  the  men  in  the  Ministry  are 
admirably  maintained.  He  is  a  doctor  who 
left  a  successful  practice  to  join  the  many 
patriots  who  subordinated  personal  interest 
to  the  national  welfare.  He  graduated  in 
medicine  from  the  University  of  Moscow,  and 
began  his  public  work  as  a  physician  in  the 
Government  of  Voronesh,  founding  a  village 
hospital  in  the  village  of  Bolshaya  Vereika. 
Later  he  practised  medicine  in  the  Zemstvos 
of  Voronesh,  and  managed  the  sanitary 
department  of  the  Zemstvo  Administration 
of  Voronesh,  taking  part  also  in  the  work  of 
the  Government  Committee  on  the  Needs  of 
the  Rural  Industry.  At  the  same  time  he 
took  part  in  the  Zemstvo  meetings  of  the 
Umansky  district  and  the  Government  of 
Tambov.  During  the  Revolutionary  move- 


168      THE  REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 

ment  of  1905  he  joined  the  Union  of 
Liberation,  and  became  the  editor  of 
"  Voroneshskoe  Slovo."  The  Government 
of  Voronesh  elected  him  for  the  Duma, 
where  he  made  effective  speeches  on  the 
many  important  legislative  projects,  and 
worked  on  the  Budget  and  Territorial  Com- 
mission. 

You  get  an  index  to  the  character  of 
Alexander  Manuiloff  when  you  find  out  what 
he  said  when  he  assumed  the  post  of  Minister 
of  Public  Education.  He  was  discussing  his 
work  with  some  friends,  when  he  declared  : 
"  If  I  can  have  my  way  every  child  in  Russia, 
no  matter  where  he  is  born,  will  have  a  common 
school  education.  I  consider  this  the  most 
important  part  of  my  work." 

This  man,  formerly  a  professor  in  the 
University  of  Moscow,  is  a  famous  economist, 
whose  works  are  known  not  only  in  Russia 
but  throughout  the  world.  One  of  his  best 
works  was  his  thesis,  for  a  Master's  degree,  on 
"  The  Irish  Land  Leases."  Manuiloff  showed 
his  protest  against  bureaucratic  methods  by 
resigning  his  professorship  at  the  University  of 
Moscow  when  Kasso  became  Minister  of  Public 
Instruction.  He  became  content  with  a  post 
in  the  minor  University  of  Shanyavsky 


THE   REVOLUTION   MAKERS    169 

until  the  advent  of  freedom  when  he  came 
into  his  own  again. 

That  the  New  Russia  is  determined  to 
entrust  her  larger  national  tasks  to  specialists 
was  evidenced  in  the  appointment  of  Nicholas 
Nekrasoff  to  the  Ministry  of  Ways  and 
Communications.  Under  the  old  order  this 
post  was  almost  invariably  filled  by  some 
bureaucrat  whose  chief  qualifications  were 
acquiescence  in  the  corruption  that  fairly 
dripped  about  him,  or  influence  with  the 
Government.  Nekrasoff,  however,  is  a 
trained  and  experienced  engineer,  who,  after 
graduating  from  the  School  of  Engineers  in 
Petrograd,  taught  for  a  considerable  time  at 
the  Technological  Institute  at  Tomsk.  After 
studying  abroad,  he  returned  to  become  a 
special  Professor  of  Buildings  and  Bridges. 
He  was  also  a  member  of  the  Advisory  Com- 
mission of  the  Department  of  Building  and 
Construction  in  the  University  town  where 
he  lived. 

During  the  student  disturbances  at  Tomsk 
he  came  forward  as  a  valiant  champion  of  the 
principles  of  academic  autonomy,  and  from 
this  time  until  the  Revolutionary  outbreak 
of  1905  he  was  in  the  forefront  of  the  battle 
for  free  speech  and  freer  action.  He  organized 


170      THE  REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 

the  Yalta  section  of  the  Constitutional  Demo- 
cratic Party  and  served  in  the  Third  and 
Fourth  Dumas  from  Tomsk,  where  he  made 
his  presence  felt.  Nekrasoff  is  only  thirty- 
five  years  old,  and  a  fine  type  of  the  vigorous, 
open-minded,  upstanding  democracy  that 
was  the  salvation  of  Russia. 

Like  Shingareff,  Russia's  State  Comptroller, 
Ivan  Godneff,  was  a  doctor  who  quitted  a 
lucrative  practice  to  work  for  the  public  good. 
As  member  of  the  Zemstvos  of  the  District 
and  Government  of  Kazan  and  the  Duma,  he 
worked  on  many  Zemstvos  and  City  Com- 
missions ;  he  studied  city  and  territorial 
affairs  in  detail,  and  was  permanent  President 
of  the  Revision  Commission.  In  Kazan 
Godneff  was  President  of  the  Orphans'  Court, 
member  of  the  Government  Department  on 
Territorial  Affairs,  honorary  trustee  of  a 
school,  and  member  of  the  Board  of  Trustees 
of  the  Marie  High  School.  At  the  same  time 
he  did  not  sever  his  connection  with  the 
Caucasian  University,  where  he  had  a  great 
reputation  as  lecturer.  His  eloquent  tongue 
joined  with  Milyukoff's  in  exposing  the  in- 
justice and  iniquity  of  the  old  order. 

The  average  Anglo-Saxon  associates  the 
office  of  Over  Procurator  of  the  Holy  Synod 


THE  REVOLUTION  MAKERS    171 

with  a  senile  and  bewhiskered  gentleman 
stiff  with  the  brocaded  vestments  of  the 
Church.  Vladimir  Lvoff  is  no  such  person, 
for  he  is  an  enterprising  Revolutionist,  a 
leader  in  the  Octobrists  Party,  and  an  editor 
of  force  and  power.  He  has  been  a  prop  of 
the  Zemstvos  and  a  factor  in  the  Duma. 

The  touch  of  exile,  tinged  with  romance, 
which  is  part  of  the  equipment  of  most 
prominent  Russian  Revolutionists,  is  revealed 
to  a  remarkable  degree  in  Theodore  Rodicheff , 
who  became  Minister  of  Finnish  Affairs  in  the 
First  Provisional  Cabinet.  In  variety  and 
adventure  his  career  rivals  that  of  Gutchkoff . 

After  graduating  in  Law  from  the  University 
of  Petrograd  he  enlisted  with  the  Southern 
Serbs  in  their  fight  for  freedom  against  the 
Turks.  He  came  through  this  campaign 
unscathed,  and  on  his  return  to  Russia  was 
made  Marshal  of  Nobility  of  the  District  of 
Vesyegonsk,  where  he  served  for  twelve 
years.  In  1894  he  first  ran  foul  of  the 
Government,  when,  on  behalf  of  the  Union  of 
Tver,  he  sent  an  address  to  the  Emperor 
pleading  for  a  Constitution  for  the  Russian 
nation.  This  was,  of  course,  the  highest 
treason,  and  he  was  severely  punished.  One 
penalty  that  he  had  to  pay  was  a  complete 


172      THE  REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 

deprivation  of  the  right  to  take  part  in  any 
public  meeting.  Despite  this  ban,  his  col- 
leagues in  the  Zemstvo  of  Tver  elected  him 
President  of  their  body.  Thus  he  still  had  a 
field  for  his  patriotism  and  his  energy. 

Rodicheff  felt,  however,  that  Petrograd 
was  his  field,  so  he  settled  down  there  as  a 
barrister  in  1900.  The  very  next  year  he  was 
exiled  from  the  Capital  because  he  signed  the 
well-known  protest  against  the  killing  of  the 
students ;  but  in  1904  all  his  rights  were 
restored  to  him,  and  he  was,  therefore,  on 
the  ground  when  the  Revolutionary  move- 
ment began.  He  became  one  of  the  organizers 
of  the  Constitutional  Democratic  Party,  and 
henceforth  had  conspicuous  part  in  the  great 
movement  for  the  uplift  and  the  emancipation 
of  his  people.  He  has  the  peculiar  distinc- 
tion of  having  served  in  all  four  Imperial 
Dumas. 

Such  is  the  fibre  of  the  men  who  made  the 
Revolution  and  then  led  the  Reconstruction. 
Yet  they  are  only  part  of  that  larger  and 
unsung  array,  both  in  and  out  the  Duma,  that 
kept  the  faith  through  all  the  years  of 
oppression.  They  are  likewise  the  Hope  of  the 
Russian  To-morrow. 


CHAPTER   X 

The  Man  Kerensky 


THE  Russian  Revolution  produced  a 
Democracy,  but  it  also  revealed  the 
rarest  of  human  institutions — a  great 
leader.  A  week  before  the  first  shot  was 
fired  that  made  a  bonfire  of  the  old  Russian 
system,  Alexander  Kerensky  was  scarcely 
known  outside  the  circles  of  the  Labour 
Party  in  Petrograd ;  when  the  tumult  and 
the  shouting  had  ceased,  his  name  was  on 
every  tongue,  and  before  a  month  had  passed 
it  was  part  of  Russia's  prayers.  History 
records  no  rise  so  swift  or  so  sensational. 
This  man's  achievement  makes  him  the  one 
distinct  and  outstanding  personality  of  the 
whole  crowded  epoch. 

In  Kerensky  Russian  Democracy  gives 
illuminating  demonstration  of  every  funda- 
mental principle  for  which  it  stands.  He 
interprets  the  new  order  in  brilliant  and 
convincing  fashion.  Here  was  a  poor  and 
practically  obscure  young  man  —  he  was 

barely   thirty-five   when   he   came   into   his 

173 


174      THE  REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 

great  prominence — who,  in  a  single  week, 
assumed  the  role  of  national  saviour  and  made 
himself  the  Lloyd  George  of  his  country. 

So  rapid  was  his  rise  to  fame  that  the 
historians  interested  in  humanity  had  difficulty 
in  placing  him.  Kerensky  wras  born  in  Sim- 
birsk, where  his  father  was  Principal  of  the 
local  High  School.  He  received  his  first 
instruction  at  Tashkent,  where  he  completed 
the  High  School  course,  after  which  he  studied 
Law  at  the  University  of  Petrograd.  He 
could  not  afford  to  embark  at  once  upon  the 
uncertain  sea  of  a  new  legal  practice,  so  he 
became  assistant  to  a  Commissioner  for  Oaths, 
and  subsequently  one  of  these  officials  himself. 

While  at  school  Kerensky  was  known  for 
his  ready  speech  and  fervid  oratory,  and  he 
held  forth  at  the  slightest  provocation.  When 
he  finally  took  up  his  Law  practice  in  Petrograd 
he  immediately  allied  himself  with  the  Labour 
Party,  and  at  once  made  himself  mildly 
prominent.  In  his  practice  he  specialized  in 
political  cases,  and  on  more  than  one  occasion 
defended  his  clients  with  such  impassioned 
force,  and  with  such  fearless  condemnation 
of  reactionary  methods,  that  he  narrowly 
escaped  prosecution  himself.  Despite  his 
reputation  for  more  or  less  irresponsible 
declamation  he  showed  real  strength  of 


THE  MAN   KERENSKY          175 

character,  and  when  this  quality  was  put  to  the 
test  at  the  supreme  crisis  of  his  life  it  stood 
revealed  as  pure  gold.  His  attitude  in  the 
Fourth  Duma,  to  which  he  was  elected  from 
the  Government  of  Saratoff,  heightened  the 
impression  that  perhaps  this  young  spread- 
eagle  orator,  who  had  a  speech  for  every 
occasion,  was  something  of  a  man  after  all. 

Such  was  the  brief  and  unadorned  approach 
to  that  great  hour  when  Kerensky  was  to 
stand  disclosed  as  the  real  Republic  Maker. 
His  contact  and  association  with  the  Revolu- 
tionary workmen  groups  enabled  him  to  keep 
in  close  touch  with  everything  that  was 
transpiring  during  these  momentous  weeks 
in  February  and  early  March,  when  hunger, 
irritation,  and  the  long-smouldering  protest 
against  the  iron  despotism  were  slowly  but 
surely  bringing  revolt  to  a  head.  Although 
he  was  a  member  of  the  Duma,  his  real 
interest  and  association — born  of  every  bond 
of  birth  and  conviction — was  with  the  Ex- 
tremists. When  Revolution  broke  out,  he  found 
himself  in  a  curiously  difficult  situation. 
The  Conservatism  of  the  Duma  claimed  his 
loyalty,  while,  on  the  other  hand,  the  fierce 
and  unrestrained  Radicalism  of  the  Socialists 
and  their  allies  in  the  Council  of  Workmen's 
and  Soldiers'  Delegates  appealed  to  his  fervour 


176      THE  REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 

and  his  imagination.  Never  was  a  man  so 
beset.  He  might  have  allied  himself  with  the 
Reds,  become  their  leader,  and  gone  straight 
to  the  Presidency  of  the  rampant  Republic 
they  were  proclaiming. 

Kerensky  cast  his  lot  with  Reason,  and  with 
that  great  decision — it  was  merely  part  of 
his  destiny — he  became  Russia's  Handy  Man. 
With  his  colleague,  Cheidze,  he  formed  the 
link  between  the  Radicals  and  the  Duma 
during  the  days  when  dissension  and  discord 
threatened  the  very  life  of  the  new  freedom. 
He  dominated  every  situation  ;  faced  all  the 
crises  that  crowded  so  thick  and  fast  upon 
those  troubled  hours. 

How  Kerensky  survived  was  a  miracle. 
His  none-too-robust  constitution  was  sub- 
jected to  a  well-nigh  incredible  strain.  Day 
and  night  he  was  in  almost  continuous  con- 
ference— pleading,  debating,  arguing.  When 
he  rose  to  speak  in  the  public  assemblies 
he  was  the  target  of  bitter  verbal  attack  ; 
when  he  went  forth  into  the  streets  his  life 
was  in  constant  danger.  He  lived  on  his 
nerves  :  only  his  indomitable  will  kept  him 
going. 

How  did  he  achieve  this  compelling  triumph 
over  all  obstacles  ?  In  the  answer  is  his  first 
kinship  with  Lloyd  George.  It  lies  in  ai^ 


THE  MAN   KERENSKY          177 

oratory  that  is  perhaps  his  greatest  gift. 
Like  the  wizard  Welshman,  who  has  stood  so 
often  in  Britain's  breach,  he  speaks  with  an 
emotion  that  becomes  a  sweeping  flood  of 
passion.  He  lacks  the  Lloyd  George  bril- 
liancy of  imagery,  and  he  has  none  of  that 
poetry  and  vision  which  are  the  birthright  of 
"  England's  Darling."  But  he  has  a  personal 
appeal  that  is  almost  irresistible.  It  is  con- 
vincing because  it  is  sincere. 

Linked  with  this  sincerity  is  an  iron 
courage.  During  the  whole  period  of  riotous 
upheaval  when  the  new  Government  was 
shaping,  and  when  Petrograd,  intoxicated  with 
its  new  equality,  had  swung  from  one  extreme 
to  another,  he  risked  everything  for  his  con- 
victions. He  bearded  his  defiers  whatever  the 
cost.  When  his  old  colleagues,  now  enthroned 
in  the  Council  of  Workmen's  and  Soldiers' 
Delegates,  accused  him  of  disloyalty,  he  went 
straight  to  their  midst  and  defended  himself. 

With  that  fine  sense  of  the  dramatic  which 
he  shares  with  Lloyd  George  he  suddenly 
appeared  in  the  Assembly  Chamber.  His 
coming  had  been  unheralded  and  un- 
announced. As  he  entered  the  room  his  name 
had  just  been  uttered  with  derision,  almost 
with  contempt,  by  one  of  his  Socialistic 
critics.  He  strode  swiftly  down  the  aisle 

M 


178      THE  REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 

to  the  rostrum  and  faced  the  crowd.  In- 
stantly there  was  silence.  His  pallid  face 
was  whiter  than  usual ;  his  eyes  flashed  with 
fire.  He  looked  about  him  for  a  moment,  and 
then  began  what  was  in  many  respects  one 
of  his  greatest  speeches.  Certainly  it  was 
one  of  his  most  characteristic.  This  is  what 
he  said  : 

"  Comrades,  Soldiers  and  Officers  ! 

"  I  have  not  had  time  to  visit  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  Society  to  which  I  belong. 
I  have  been  occupied  the  whole  time  with  work 
which  could  not  be  delayed,  and  this  is  what 
I  have  come  to  say  to  you  to-day. 

"  Up  to  this  time  there  have  been  no  mis- 
understandings between  us,  but  now  I  hear 
that  people  are  appearing  among  us  who, 
spreading  foolish  rumours,  wish  to  sow  the 
seed  of  discord  among  the  democratic  masses. 

"  Five  years  from  this  chair  I  fought 
against  the  old  regime  and  accused  it  without 
ceasing.  And  I  know  the  enemies  of  the 
people ;  I  know  how  to  deal  with  them. 
Until  I  became  a  member  of  the  Duma  I  long 
found  myself  in  the  torture-chamber  of 
Russian  justice,  and  many  of  those  who  are 
fighting  for  freedom  passed  through  my 
hands. 

"  During  the  war  I  have  already  advocated 


THE  MAN   KERENSKY  179 

in  secret  sessions  the  changing  of  the  '  Military 
Law,'  the  abolition  of  saluting,  and  the 
improvement  of  the  soldier's  lot.  (Loud 
cheers.) 

"  I  became  a  member  of  the  Duma  that  I 
might  fearlessly  tell  how  the  Russian  people 
enjoyed  no  rights  and  were  oppressed  by  the 
old  regime.  As  a  representative  of  the 
democratic  masses,  I  have  done  my  duty 
till  now  without  violating  the  general  rights 
of  man.  I  have  always  advocated  them 
until  I  was  almost  tired  of  doing  so,  and  now 
I  am  again  before  you  at  this  Tribune, 
Comrades,  and  in  my  hands  is  all  the  power 
of  the  Russian  Procurator  General,  and  know 
that  no  one  can  be  released  from  arrest 
without  my  consent. 

"  I  have  heard  that  rumours  have  been 
active  among  you  to  the  effect  that  I  am 
beginning  to  weaken  in  my  attitude  towards 
the  old  Government  and  to  the  Czar's  family. 
I  have  heard  that  people  have  come  among 
you  who  dare  to  mistrust  me.  I  warn  all, 
that  I  will  not  permit  the  man  who  says  this 
to  show  distrust  of  me,  and  in  my  person  to 
insult  the  Russian  Democracy.  I  ask  you 
either  to  exclude  me  from  your  midst  or  to 
place  your  implicit  trust  in  me.  (Loud  cheers 
and  "Bravo  I") 


M  2 


i8o      THE  REBIRTH   OF  RUSSIA 

"  You  are  accusing  the  Provisional  Govern- 
ment and  myself  of  weakening  in  our  attitude 
to  the  members  of  the  Czar's  family,  of 
leaving  them  in  freedom,  and  acting  con- 
descendingly towards  them. 

"  But  I  would  have  you  know  that  I  have 
been  in  Tsarskoe  Selo,  where  I  had  an  inter- 
view with  the  Commandant  of  the  Garrison, 
and  spoke  with  the  soldiers.  The  Com- 
mandant of  the  Palace  at  Tsarskoe  Selo  is  a 
well-known  friend  of  mine,  and  I  trust  him 
fully.  The  Garrison  promised  to  fulfil  my 
orders  only.  All  that  takes  place  in  Tsarskoe 
Selo  occurs  with  my  knowledge. 

"  You  appear  to  have  entertained  doubts 
because  certain  members  of  the  Czar's  family 
have  remained  at  large,  but  those  alone  are 
free  who  together  with  you  protested  against 
the  old  regime  and  the  arbitrary  rules  of  the 
Czardom.  Dmitry  Pavlovich  is  free  as  he 
opposed  the  old  Government  to  the  end.  He 
it  was  who  engineered  the  conspiracy  and 
killed  Rasputin.  And  he  has  full  right  to 
remain  as  an  ordinary  officer  in  the  ranks  of 
the  Russian  Army  in  Persia. 

"  I  have  set  at  liberty  General  Ivanoff,  but 
he  is  always  under  my  surveillance  in  his 
private  apartments.  I  have  freed  him  be- 
cause he  is  ill  and  old,  and  the  doctors  affirm 


THE  MAN  KERENSKY          181 

that  he  would  not  live  even  three  days  if  he 
remained  in  the  surroundings  in  which  he  was 
placed. 

"  Comrades,  Soldiers  and  Officers !  Re- 
member that  the  task  of  the  Provisional 
Government  is  a  great  and  responsible  one. 

"  The  Provisional  Government  stands  for 
freedom,  right,  and  Russian  independence,  and 
will  continue  to  do  so  until  the  end.  On  all 
of  us,  on  our  Provisional  Government  lies  the 
single  responsibility  for  the  fate  of  our  country, 
and  in  the  name  of  our  duty  before  the 
whole  country  we  must  all  work  in  unity 
together. 

"  I  will  not  go  away  from  this  Tribune  until 
I  have  satisfied  myself  that  there  will  be  no 
other  organization  save  that  of  a  democratic 
republic.  (Extraordinary  demonstration  of 
enthusiasm.) 

"  Comrades,  Soldiers,  there  is  now  no  army 
in  the  whole  world  so  free  as  the  Russian 
Army.  You  are  free  citizens,  you  have  the 
right  to  form  organizations,  and  this  you  have 
achieved  in  three  days. 

"To-morrow  is  the  27th  of  March.  A 
whole  month  has  passed  from  the  moment 
when  I  greeted  the  first  detachment  of 
revolutionary  troops  who  had  come  to  the 
Tavritchesky  Palace  to  place  themselves  at 


182      THE  REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 

the  disposal  of  the  Provisional  Government, 
and  placed  a  guard  of  honour. 

"  I  became  a  member  of  the  Provisional 
Government  as  your  representative,  and  your 
interests  and  views  I  will  maintain  as  long 
as  I  have  strength.  The  Provisional  Govern- 
ment is  listening  to  what  you  say.  I  should 
like  you  to  know  that  in  a  few  days'  time  a 
document  will  appear  in  which  declaration  will 
be  made  that  Russia  disclaims  all  the  aims  of 
military  aggression. 

"  I  am  working  for  your  welfare,  so  long 
as  I  retain  your  trust,  and  so  long  as  all  are 
frank  with  me.  But  people  have  appeared 
who  desire  to  sow  the  seeds  of  disunion 
among  us.  Remember  that  in  the  name  of 
national  duty  we  must  all  work  together, 
and  if  you  wish,  I  will  work  with  you  ;  if  you 
wish  otherwise — I  will  go  away.  I  want  to 
know,  do  you  believe  in  me  or  not  ?  (Tre- 
mendous sensation  and  applause  and  universal 
cries  expressing  confidence.) 

"  I  have  come  here  not  to  justify  myself  and 
not  to  excuse  myself  before  you.  I  only 
wished  to  say  that  I  will  not  permit  myself 
and  the  whole  democracy  of  Russia  to  be 
held  under  suspicion."  (Great  ovation.) 

In  this  speech  the  real  Kerensky  stood 
revealed  with  all  the  intrepidity  of  soul  that 


THE  MAN  KERENSKY          183 

is  his  heritage.  Such  an  effort  could  only  have 
one  finale — a  superb  ovation  that  literally 
swept  the  speaker  off  his  feet.  After  that 
speech  all  criticism  of  Kerensky  ceased,  and 
henceforth  his  leadership  was  implicitly — 
almost  blindly — followed. 

Kerensky  has  all  of  Lloyd  George's  genius 
for  being  able  to  sound  the  populace  and 
to  find  out  what  it  wants.  Like  his  Welsh 
colleague,  he  makes  every  speech  seem  to  be  a 
direct  and  personal  appeal  to  every  individual 
in  his  audience.  It  is  one  of  the  master 
elements  in  the  formula  of  successful  popular 
oratory. 

Scarcely  had  the  Revolution  subsided 
before  Kerensky  visited  the  Front  and  asked 
the  soldiers  in  the  trenches  to  stand  by  the 
new  order.  He  also  made  a  flying  trip  to 
Helsingfors,  the  capital  of  Finland,  and  gave 
an  eloquent  address  to  the  Finnish  Parlia- 
ment. He  made  this  trip  with  characteristic 
swiftness,  so  swiftly,  in  fact,  that  he  did  not 
even  have  a  passport  and  was  arrested  on 
the  Russian  frontier.  He  got  through,  how- 
ever. Unannounced,  he  rose  in  the  Chamber 
and  claimed  the  privileges  of  the  floor,  saying  : 

"  I  am  Kerensky,  the  new  Minister  of 
Justice,  and  I  want  to  talk  to  you  about  the 
new  Government." 


184      THE  REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 

In  similar  abrupt  fashion  he  made  descent 
one  day  upon  a  sewing  circle,  composed  of 
fashionable  women  doing  Red  Cross  work. 
Almost  before  they  had  time  to  wonder  who 
or  what  he  was,  he  said  : 

"I  am  Kerensky  the  Red.  Don't  be 
alarmed.  I  won't  bite  you.  I  merely  came 
here  to  tell  you  that  we  Radicals  are  not  as 
red  as  we  are  painted.  When  you  go  home, 
you  can  tell  your  family  and  friends  that  the 
new  Government  seeks  no  man's  life.  All  it 
wants  is  intelligent  co-operation  from  every- 
body." 

Thus  Kerensky  went  his  way,  placating  the 
unruly,  harmonizing  the  discordant — a  tower 
of  strength  to  the  new  order.  It  was  his 
overwhelming  appeal  that  swung  the  Socialists 
in  line  with  the  Provisional  Government  and 
made  the  Coalition  Cabinet  possible. 

In  this  pregnant  moment  of  accord,  which 
really  saved  the  democracy,  he  again  demon- 
strated the  astounding  parallel  of  Lloyd 
George.  He  stepped  from  the  Ministry  of 
Justice  into  the  Ministry  of  War,  and  began 
what  will  probably  become  a  progressive 
journey  towards  the  Premiership. 

If  up  to  this  time  any  man  had  questioned 
the  bigness  of  Kerensky,  his  sacrifice 
now  removed  all  doubt.  Kerensky  was  a 


THE  MAN   KERENSKY  185 

Socialist,  and  therefore  an  anti-imperialist. 
Yet  in  a  moment,  when  he  felt  that  his 
country  needed  a  great  sacrifice,  he  met  the 
emergency.  No  contrast  in  his  life  of  con- 
trasts was  sharper.  It  was  even  more  pro- 
nounced than  the  spectacle  of  Lloyd  George, 
the  one-time  pro-Boer  and  Pacificist,  sitting 
in  the  seat  of  Kitchener. 

Shortly  after  he  became  Minister  of  War, 
Kerensky  made  one  of  the  many  dramatic 
and  intimate  illuminations  of  his  character. 
The  whole  country  was  a-quiver  with  curiosity 
as  to  the  policy  of  the  Socialist  Warrior. 
He  lost  no  time  in  making  his  creed  known. 
A  Congress  of  Peasants  had  just  been  convened 
in  Petrograd.  These  were  his  own  people,  and 
to  them  he  made  his  first  declaration  of  the 
new  principles,  and  with  all  the  fire  and 
passion  at  his  command  : 

"  Soldiers,  Sailors,  and  Officers,  I  call 
upon  you  to  make  a  last  heroic  effort. 
I  am  your  servant.  Help  me  to  show  the 
world  that  the  Russian  Army  is  not  a  de- 
molished temple,  but  that  it  is  strong  and 
formidable,  capable  of  making  itself  respected 
and  of  defending  the  free  Republic  of  demo- 
cratic Russia.  It  may  appear  strange  that  I, 
a  civilian,  who  was  never  a  soldier,  have  under- 
taken the  heavy  task  of  restoring  discipline 


186      THE  REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 

in  the  army,  but  I  have  accepted  it  because 
I  understand  that  this  discipline  is  based  on 
honour,  duty,  and  reciprocal  respect. 

"  I  have  never  known  what  this  discipline 
is,  but,  nevertheless,  I  propose  to  introduce 
an  iron  discipline  into  the  army,  and  I  am 
sure  that  I  shall  succeed.  This  discipline  is 
necessary,  not  only  at  the  Front  but  also  in 
the  interior  of  the  country,  in  order  to  bring 
the  liberty  which  has  been  conquered  into 
the  Constituent  Assembly. 

"  I  am  shortly  going  to  the  Front.  Allow 
me,  therefore,  to  say  in  the  trenches  that  the 
Russian  peasants  wish  to  have  the  land  which 
belongs  to  them,  and  that  no  force  shall  take 
it  from  them,  but  also  allow  me  to  say  that  in 
order  to  achieve  this  object,  every  one  shall 
do  his  duty  in  a  spirit  of  self-sacrifice." 

Petrograd  was  still  ringing  with  the  cheers 
that  followed  this  outburst,  when  Kerensky 
issued  his  famous  Order  of  the  Day  to  the 
Russian  Army.  It  thrilled  with  the  clarion 
call  to  duty  and  action. 

I  met  Kerensky  under  circumstances  that 
had  they  been  staged  for  the  occasion  could 
not  more  fittingly  present  the  character  of  the 
man  and  the  immense  part  he  was  playing  in 
the  drama  of  Russian  liberty.  He  had  hardly 
acclimated  himself  to  the  ministerial  atmo- 


THE  MAN  KERENSKY          187 


sphere  when  I  called  on  him  at  his  office  in  the 
Ministry  of  Justice.  The  appointment  was 
for  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning,  and  I  arrived 
there  a  few  moments  before  that  time. 

The  crowd  in  the  ante-room  indicated  that  I 
was  at  a  tribune  of  the  people,  because  the 
throng  that  filled  nearly  all  the  available 
space  represented  the  democracy  of  the 
hour.  Generals  emblazoned  with  orders 
rubbed  shoulders  with  unwashed  privates. 
You  saw  merchant  and  washerwoman,  priest 
and  atheist,  uplifter  and  radical — all  part  of 
the  procession  that  had  come  to  the  cabinet 
of  a  Father  Confessor. 

Sharply  at  ten  o'clock  the  door  opened,  a 
pale  face  peered  out,  bowed,  smiled,  and  then 
withdrew.  Kerensky  was  looking  over  his 
audience.  An  attendant  then  appeared  and 
escorted  ten  private  soldiers  into  the  inner 
chamber.  After  an  interval  of  ten  minutes 
they  emerged  and  went  their  way.  My 
time  had  arrived,  for  an  officer — one  of  the 
two  who  were  in  constant  attendance  upon 
the  Minister,  for  he  is  the  only  member  of 
the  Government  who  had  an  armed  guard — 
appeared  and  asked  me  to  enter. 

I  followed  him  and  found  myself  in  a  small 
bleak  room.  There  was  not  a  picture  on  the 
walls.  But  the  moment  I  entered  I  felt  that 


i88      THE  REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 

the  place  was  vibrant  with  a  definite  presence. 
That  presence  was  incarnated  in  the  spare, 
almost  ascetic  figure  of  a  man  who  sat  at  a 
plain  flat-topped  desk  fingering  some  papers. 
It  was  Kerensky  at  last.  As  I  appeared  he 
rose,  and  came  forward  with  his  hand  out- 
stretched, saying  : 

"  I  am  very  sorry  to  have  kept  you  waiting, 
but  I  had  to  see  a  delegation  of  soldiers  from 
the  Front.  They  came  to  me  straight  from  the 
trenches,  and  they  wanted  to  tell  me  their 
troubles  immediately.  I  hope  you  didn't 
mind." 

It  was  done  with  genuine  charm  and  with  a 
wistfulness  that  were  captivating.  I  saw  at 
once  how  and  why  Kerensky  had  succeeded 
with  his  fellow-men.  He  was  very  human. 
He  sat  down  and  talked  in  a  steady  stream 
for  an  hour.  Only  Roosevelt  surpasses  him 
in  ceaseless  flow  of  speech.  He  talks  as 
he  has  lived — earnestly,  passionately,  com- 
pletely. Every  effort  he  makes  is  a  sap  at 
his  vitality.  He  fairly  drains  the  well-springs 
of  his  life. 

But  more  impressive  than  his  speech  is  the 
appearance  of  the  man.  His  face  is  white 
almost  to  ghastliness  ;  his  cheeks  are  gaunt ; 
his  eyes  are  deep,  black,  lustrous ;  he  looks 
like  one  who  has  suffered  and  struggled  and 


THE  MAN  KERENSKY  189 

borne  the  great  burdens.     He  incarnates  the 
stuff  of  which  martyrs  are  made. 

We  talked  of  many  things  that  April  day — 
of  war,  peace,  democracy,  the  whole  chaos 
into  which  the  world  seemed  plunged.  He 
displayed  an  amazing  knowledge  of  affairs, 
and  I  was  not  surprised  to  find  that  his  two 
admirations  were  Lloyd  George  and  Lincoln. 
Consciously  he  has  made  the  lives  of  these  two 
great  leaders  the  models  for  his  own.  Un- 
consciously he  has  become,  so  far  as  his  public 
career  is  concerned,  the  prototype  of  the  first. 
Who  knows  but  what  he  may  not  share  with 
the  great  American  Emancipator  the  glory  of 
a  kindred  martyrdom ! 

No  man  who  has  watched  Russia  in  the 
perilous  days  of  her  transition  can  question 
the  fact  that  much  of  the  future  of  the  nation 
lies  in  the  hollow  of  Kerensky's  hand.  Up 
to  him  was  placed  squarely  the  task  of 
instilling  into  millions  of  simple,  honest, 
illiterate,  and  childlike  people  the  message  of 
democracy.  No  other  man  in  the  country 
could  attempt  it  with  any  hope  of  success. 
What  he  can  do  remains  to  be  seen. 

But  one  thing  is  certain.  So  long  as 
Kerensky  lives,  so  long  will  reason  rule.  The 
man  who  was  the  Cement  of  the  Revolution 
will  remain  the  Rock  of  Reconstruction. 


CHAPTER   XI 

The  New  Russia 


THROUGH  the  preceding  pages  has 
passed  the  panorama  of  the  most 
remarkable  popular  upheaval  since  the 
French  Revolution.  It  was  achieved  with  a 
swiftness  and  a  bloodlessness  without  parallel. 
The  most  patient  and  long  suffering  of 
nations  threw  off  the  yoke  of  tyranny  almost 
overnight.  Never  was  retribution  swifter, 
and  yet  less  terrible.  A  people  who  could 
show  restraint  when  a  long  and  poignant  past 
cried  out  for  vengeance  are  capable  of  still 
greater  things. 

The  world  that  sat  spellbound  at  the 
spectacle  of  a  freed  Russia  forgot  in  the 
wonder  of  the  moment  that  the  Slav  passion 
for  liberty  is  no  new  thing.  It  had  beaten 
for  decades  against  the  bars  of  oppression. 
Siberia  was  merely  one  chapter  in  a  tragic 
biography  of  protest  written  in  blood  and 
agony.  What  years  of  organized  assassina- 
tion tempered  by  the  highest  sacrifice  could 

190 


THE  NEW  RUSSIA  191 

not  achieve  was  made  possible  by  the  Great 
War. 

Save  for  the  Kaiser-ridden  domain  where 
the  Mailed  Fist  still  clutches  the  throat  of 
popular  will,  the  whole  world  desired  Russian 
liberation.  The  one  flaw  in  the  otherwise 
perfect  enactment  of  Russian  Deliverance 
was  that  it  came  at  an  untimely  hour.  It 
raised  issues  which  will  complicate  and  may 
neutralize  the  fruits  of  victory. 

On  the  other  hand,  emancipation  was  only 
possible  during  the  war.  Without  its  superb 
stimulus  the  people  could  not  have  risen. 
The  immense  conflict  welded  the  soul  of 
Russia.  It  made  the  populace  intolerant 
of  the  human  rubbish  that  blocked  the  way 
of  the  national  desire  ;  it  made  the  army  their 
ally  ;  it  recreated  the  Cossack  into  a  human 
being.  One  great  lesson  of  the  Revolution  is 
that  this  war  is  the  Supreme  Revealer,  and 
not  the  least  of  its  revelations  is  the  light  that 
pointed  the  path  to  Russian  Democracy. 

With  a  dispassionate  review  of  all  that  has 
happened  in  Russia  must  come  a  larger 
understanding  of  the  indiscretions  that  im- 
peded reconstruction .  Civilization  was  some- 
what led  astray  by  the  almost  incredible  calm 
and  rapidity  with  which  the  revolt  was 


ig2      THE  REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 

carried  out.  Most  people  failed  to  remember 
that  it  was  a  complete  revolution,  and  not  a 
mere  change  in  Government.  The  whole 
structure  of  national  organization  was  up- 
rooted. It  was  impossible  to  take  a  ready- 
made  system  off  the  shelf  and  substitute  it 
for  the  hideous  regime  that  had  gone  to  its 
doom.  Hence  the  disorder  and  the  disunion, 
hence,  too,  the  colossal  problems  that  confront 
the  New  Russia. 

More  than  one  clear-thinking  man  in  Russia 
believed  with  Milyukoff  that  a  Constitutional 
Monarchy  was  the  first  logical  step  toward  a 
complete  popular  Government.  The  quick 
reaction  that  followed  the  sudden  freedom, 
however,  swung  the  huge  body  of  sentiment 
around  to  the  other  extreme,  and  the 
Moderates  bowed  to  the  Extremists.  A 
Republic  had  to  succeed  the  most  buttressed 
of  all  autocracies — and  at  once. 

Vast  difficulties  stand  in  the  way  of  the 
realization  of  this  ideal.  One  hundred  and 
eighty  millions  of  people,  many  of  them 
illiterate,  and  most  of  them  still  imbued  with 
the  idea  that  their  Chief  Executive  is  a  sort 
of  godhead  and  entrusted  with  rulership  for 
life,  must  be  taught  the  fundamentals  of 
suffrage  and  democracy.  Every  one,  male 


THE  NEW  RUSSIA  193 

and  female,  has  a  vote.  A  mighty  weapon 
has  been  fashioned  that  may  become  the 
bulwark  of  the  new  liberty — or  its  undoing. 

I  know  no  better  way  of  summing  up  this 
situation  than  to  reproduce  what  Milyukoff 
said  to  me  the  last  time  I  saw  him.  He  was 
still  in  the  Cabinet,  and  we  stood  at  a  window 
of  the  Foreign  Office  looking  out  on  the 
immense  square  below.  Across  was  the 
Winter  Palace,  red  as  the  wrath  that  had 
enveloped  it,  but  no  redder  than  the  flag  of 
Revolution  that  floated  from  its  roof. 

"  Russia  will  have  a  republic,"  he  said. 
"  It  will  be  formally  determined  at  a  Con- 
stituent Assembly  to  be  held  as  soon  as 
possible.  In  the  United  States  it  would  be 
a  very  easy  matter  to  call  and  hold  such  a 
convention.  But  in  Russia  it  is  not  so  easy. 
The  procedure  is  necessarily  slow  because  so 
many  obstacles  lie  in  the  path. 

"  First  among  these  difficulties  is  the  purely 
technical  detail.  Unlike  America,  Russia  has 
no  periodical  census.  Our  statistics  of  popula- 
tion are  therefore  out  of  date.  The  great 
masses  of  Russian  people  must  be  prepared 
for  universal  suffrage,  and  for  a  clear  com- 
prehension of  popular  representation  of  all 
kinds.  To  this  end  a  Committee  has  been 


194      THE  REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 

appointed  to  create  a  detailed  programme 
for  electing  delegates  to  the  convention  which 
will  doubtless  be  on  a  basis  of  one  delegate 
to  every  large  unit  of  population — perhaps 
one  for  every  hundred  thousand. 

"  The  second  difficulty  in  the  way  of  an 
immediate  calling  up  of  a  convention  is 
military  operation.  Russia  does  not  forget 
even  in  the  midst  of  her  new-found  freedom 
that  one  permanent  bulwark  of  that  freedom 
is  in  a  peace  dictated  by  complete  victory 
over  the  common  enemy.  The  crisis  on  our 
Fronts  must  be  met  and  vanquished,  and 
this  requires  concentration  of  energy  and 
resource. 

"  Personally  I  am  not  in  favour  of  a  United 
States  of  Russia,  composed  of  national  units 
like  the  Republic  of  Lithuania  or  the  Republic 
of  the  Tartars.  I  believe  in  one  great  demo- 
cratic State — a  brotherhood  of  territorial 
units,  each  one  capable  of  making  its  own  by- 
laws but  administered  by  officials  named  by 
the  National  Government.  In  this  plan  you 
would  have  an  effective  example  of  de- 
centralization which  would  avoid  the  inevit- 
able conflict  that  would  separate  national 
entities,  each  preserving  its  own  integrity  of 
race  and  speech. 


THE  NEW  RUSSIA  195 

"  The  salvation  of  popular  government  in 
the  newest  democracy  lies  in  the  preservation 
of  National  Unity." 

Some  of  the  ancient  wrongs  will  not  wait 
for  formal  parliamentary  adjudication.  Even 
before  I  left  Russia,  unrest  had  descended 
upon  the  farms,  and  the  storm  began  to  break 
about  the  eternal  agrarian  question.  As  the 
idea  of  freedom  began  to  soak  into  the 
consciousness  ,  of  the  Russian  peasant  it 
brought  a  sudden  understanding  that  at  last 
all  land  was  to  be  distributed  equally.  Save 
in  a  few  isolated  cases  there  was  no  actual 
pillage,  but  scores  of  estates  have  already 
been  seized,  and  the  adjustment  of  the  whole 
distribution  problem  will  be  one  of  the  many 
problems  that  the  reconstructed  Government 
will  be  called  upon  to  solve. 

A  touch  of  sentiment  may  help  to  soften  the 
herculean  task  of  Russian  reorganization.  It 
grew  out  of  America's  entry  into  the  war. 
The  effect  of  this  historic  event  was  almost 
indescribable.  It  thrilled  the  heart  of  a 
nation  already  tender  with  rejoicing,  and  gave 
the  war  a  sense  of  kinship  and  comfort. 
President  Wilson's  reference  to  the  Revolution, 
in  his  memorable  speech  to  Congress  ar- 
raigning the  Germans  and  arraying  America 


196     THE  REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA 

on  the  side  of  World  Humanity,  found  grateful 
echo.  I  heard  men  like  Prince  Lvoff  say  : 

"It  is  more  than  a  coincidence  that 
Russia's  dawn  of  freedom  and  America's  entry 
into  the  war  for  liberty  should  have  happened 
at  the  same  time.  It  was  an  act  of  Provi- 
dence." 

The  Rebirth  of  Russia,  unlike  the  advent 
of  the  New  France  in  the  eighteenth  century, 
will  not  be  hampered  by  royalist  plot  or  the 
opposition  of  a  united  monarchical  Europe. 
It  worked  in  a  different  way  its  miracles  to 
perform.  Out  of  the  cauldron  of  revolt 
came  the  solemn  warning  to  the  Master  of 
Potsdam  that  the  day  of  the  despot  was 
done.  The  Russian  upheaval  leaves  one 
remaining  autocrat.  Will  the  Kaiser  follow 
his  royal  cousin  into  the  dusk  ? 

Whatever  happens  in  Russia — and  no  man 
can  foresee  the  end — the  Revolution  kindled 
an  unquenchable  beacon  on  the  mountain-top 
of  the  century.  It  proclaims  the  flaming 
truth  that  government  by,  of,  and  for  the 
people  has  at  last  arisen  in  a  once-benighted 
land. 

Russia  is  mistress  of  her  destiny. 

THE   END 


THE  REBIRTH  OF  RUSSIA. 

By   ISAAC   F.    MARCOSSON.      With   numerous  illus- 
trations.    Crown  8vo.     3/6  net. 

This  book  is  frankly  journalistic — the  record  of  moment- 
ous events  chronicled  hot  on  the  heels  of  happening. 
The  author,  who  was  on  the  spot,  paints  vivid  word  pic- 
tures of  the  scene  of  delirious  delight  in  Petrograd  when 
the  freedom  of  the  people  was  assured,  and  gives  his 
impressions  of  the  fruits  and  follies  of  the  new  liberty. 


THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION. 

By  ISAAC  DON  LEVINE.    Editor  of  "  The  New  York 
Tribune"     Crown  8vo.     5/- net, 


THE  WAR  AFTER  THE  WAR. 

By   ISAAC  F.  MARCOSSON.     Crown  8vo.     5/-  net. 

"There  is  plenty  of  '  straight  talk '  in  Mr.  Marcosson's  volume, 
but  a  vein  of  strong  common-sense  runs  through  his  strictures,  and 
there  is  ample  evidence  to  prove  that  the  author  has  closely  studied 
the  problems  he  discusses.  His  remarks  on  British  War-saving 
schemes  and  their  relations  to  after-the-War  finance,  are  worthy  of 
careful  contemplation." — Daily  Telefraph. 

CHARLES   FROHMAN,  Manager  &  Man. 

By  ISAAC  F.  MARCOSSON  &  DANIEL  FROHMAN. 
With  an  appreciation  by  Sir  J.  M.  Barrie.  With  many 
portraits  and  illustrations.  Demy  8vo.  12/6  net. 


JOHN  LANE,  THE  BODLEY  HEAD,  VIGO  ST..  LONDON,  W. 


BOOKS    BY    STEPHEN    GRAHAM 


CHANGING  RUSSIA. 

With  15  illustrations  and  a  map.  Second  Edition. 
Demy  8vo.  7s.  6d.  net. 

"  Mr.  Graham  knows  Russia  well  and  is  able  to  describe  it. 
Many  people  will  be  attracted  by  his  record  of  adventures." — Athenseum 

Mr.  Graham  writes  delightfully  of  a  world  in  which  we  gladly 
follow  him  as  guide,  philosopher  and  friend.  We  listen  gratefully  to 
his  songs  before  sunrise,  and  gladly  tramp  with  him  the  sunlit  roads 
that  lead  us  to  the  Land  of  Thought  and  among  the  Hills  of  Vanity, 
where  adventure  awaits  us  at  every  turning." — Times. 

"A  very  able  book,  for  he  writes  with  authority.  He  is  an 
observer  with  a  keen  eye  for  detail  ;  a  writer  with  a  mind  large 
enough  to  sort  the  collected  mass,  and  sufficently  trained  to  express 
each  detail  saliently  and  with  its  true  value." — Obttroer 

UNDISCOVERED  RUSSIA. 

With  26  illustrations  and  three  maps.  Second  Edition. 
Demy  8vo.  i2s.  6d. 

"  Mr,  Graham  writes  so  well  that  the  aspects  of  his  subject  tend 
to  transfigure  themselves  under  tha  spell  of  a  style  whose  delicate 
phrasing  and  soft  melancholy  often  remind  one  of  Loti's  subtle-hued 
visions  of  men  and  things  seen  from  beneath  the  half-closed  eyelids 
of  artist  and  dreamer.  Certainly  there  is  in  Mr.  Graham's  mood  and 
expression,  some  elusively  un-English  element  that  makes  his  work 
read  at  times  like  perfectly  translated  French.  Still,  his  sadness  has 
its  source,  not  in  the  passive  weariness  of  Loti,  surfeited  with  civili- 
sation and  experience,  but  in  the  mysticism  of  a  born  wanderer." — 

Tht  Spectator 

A  VAGABOND  IN  THE  CAUCASUS. 

With  some  notes  of  his  experiences  among  the  Russians. 
With  16  illustrations  and  two  maps.  Demy  8vo.  12/6  net. 
Also  a  cheap  edition.  Crown  8vo  5/-  net. 

"Mr.  Stephen  Graham  gives  us  in  this  book  one  of  the  most 
individual  and  interesting  volumes  of  travel  talk  we  have  had  for 
many  a  long  day.  Mr.  Graham's  chapters  ar«  full  of  suggestiveness 
and  interest ;  in  those  which  describe  his  vagabondising  in  the 
Caucasus  most  readers  will  find  an  attraction  which  will  make  them 
look  forward  with  pleasurable  anticipation  to  the  author's  future 
work." — The  Daily  Telegraph 


JOHN  LANE,  THE  BODLEY  HEAD,  VIGO  ST.,  LONDON.  W. 


RUSSIAN  CHAPS 

By  M.  C.  LETHBRIDGE.  Cloth,  Crown  8vo.  Is.  net. 
Uniform  with  "Kitchener  Chaps,"  Joffre  Chaps"  and 
"  Canada  Chaps." 


me  mam  cuaracieruucs  01  me  KUBBMH  I 
forcibly  reproduced." — Land  and  Water 

"  Charming  and  typically  Russian  tales." — Graphic 

"These  stories  are  tcld  with  skill,  and  are  lively  with  keen 
observation." — Saturday  Reoiew 

"The  writer  has  got  at  the  heart  and  the  soul  of  the  Russian 
People."— Pall  Mall  Gazette 

"Well  written,  living  little  tales  of  the  Russian  soldier  by  one 
who  has  seen  much  of  him." — Times 


RUSSIAN  REALITIES. 

By  JOHN  H.  HUBBACK.     With  16  illustrations  and  a 
Map.     Crown  8vo.  5/-  net, 

There  is  hardly  a  page  upon  which  may  not  be  found 
some  record  of  a  fact  that  some  more  careless  visitor 
would  have  overlooked  or  misunderstood. 


THE  SOUL  OF  THE  RUSSIAN 

By  MARJORIE  and  ALAN  LETHBRIDGE. 
Crown  8vo.     3/6  net. 

"  Vivid  studies  of  Russian  character,  based  upon  personal,  inti- 
mate knowledge." — Daily  Graphic 

"A  series  of  chapters  each  of  which  affords  a  vivid  and  pleasant 
vignette  of  some  aspect  of  Russian  life." — Pall  Mall  Gazette 


JOHN  LANE,  THE  BODLEY  HEAD,  VIGO  ST.,  LONDON,  W. 


AERIAL  RUSSIA:    The    Romance  of  the 
Giant  Aeroplane. 

By  LIEUT-COL.  B.  ROUSTAM-BEK.  With  21  illustra- 
tions. Crown  8vo.  2/6  net. 

"  An  interesting  book  .  .  .  gives  a  large  amount  of  information  on 
the  history  of  Russian  aviation  w.iich  we  are  sure  will  be  quite  new 
to  English  readers," — Timtt 

POETRY  AND  PROGRESS  IN  RUSSIA. 

By  ROSA  NEWMARCH.  With  6  Full-page  Portraits. 
Demy  8vo.  7/6  net. 

THE  LIFE  OF  PETER  ILICH 
TCHAIKOVSKY  (1840-1893). 

By  his  Brother  MODESTE  TCHAIKOVSKY.  Edited 
and  Abridged  from  the  Russian  and  Servian  Editions  by 
Rosa  Newmarch.  With  numerous  illustrations  and 
Facsimiles  and  an  introduction.  Demy  8vo.  7/6  net. 

WITH  THE  RUSSIANS  IN   MONGOLIA 

By  H.  G.  C.  PERRY-AYSCOUGH  and  R.  B.  OTTER- 
BARRY.  With  an  introduction  by  Sir  Claude  Macdonald, 
G.C.M.G.,  &c.  With  50  illustrations  from  photographs 
and  a  map.  Demy  8vo.  16/-  net. 


JOHN  LANE,  THE  BODLEY  HEAD,  VIGO  ST.,  LONDON\  W. 


DATE  DUE 

MAR  1  5  ^ 

974 

Mt1ft^lA 

; 

,W*  * 

GAYLORD 

PRINTED  IN  U.S.A. 

DC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 


A     000805167     4 


